Tag Archives: Oumuamua

General

‘Oumuamua, interstellar probe?!

This …interesting… bit has been making the news of late.

You remember ‘Oumuamua, no?  It’s that strangely shaped object that flew by the solar system and exhibited some strange motions and may have looked like this:

Meet 'Oumuamua, the first observed interstellar visitor to our solar systemThe object bewildered scientists, as I mentioned above, not only because of its odd shape but also because its motion seemed odd as well.

Now, we have this:

‘Oumuamua: Cigar-shaped interstellar object may have been alien probe, Harvard paper claims

The money lines from the article, complete with links:

Now, a new paper by researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics raises the possibility that the elongated dark-red object, which is 10 times as long as it is wide and traveling at speeds of 196,000 mph, might have an “artificial origin.”
“‘Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization,” they wrote in the paper, which has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The theory is based on the object’s “excess acceleration,” or its unexpected boost in speed as it traveled through and ultimately out of our solar system in January 2018.
“Considering an artificial origin, one possibility is that ‘Oumuamua is a light sail, floating in interstellar space as a debris from an advanced technological equipment,” wrote the paper’s authors, suggesting that the object could be propelled by solar radiation.

 

So the object’s acceleration as it left the solar system was… odd… and this (among other things) was the reason why these Harvard researchers felt it was possible the object was an artificial creation, one which used “solar sails” to move.

I wonder.

Frankly, it would be beyond exciting to think that there may be probes out there looking in on us.  Exciting… and terrifying.

I suspect that there may eventually be a more “down to earth” (so to speak) explanation for this object’s strange acceleration, but we’ll see.

We’ll see.

Image result for alien invasion gifs

General

Huh…?!

Over on HuffingtonPost.com, Ed Mazza writes about that weird, almost tube shaped interstellar object named Oumuamua…

Image result for Oumuamua

…which is coming into our solar system from somewhere (gulp) outside and that…

Scientists To Study Mysterious Interstellar Asteroid For Signs Of Alien Technology

Ok, before you fly off the handle (and at the risk of spoiling things in the fascinating article I just linked to above), this from Avi Loeb, professor of astronomy at Harvard University:

Most likely it is of natural origin, but because it is so peculiar, we would like to check if it has any sign of artificial origin, such as radio emissions.  If we do detect a signal that appears artificial in origin, we’ll know immediately.

Then there’s this quote, also found in the article, by Yuri Milner, the Silicon Valley billionaire behind the initiative looking into checking the object out:

We don’t want to be sensational in any way, and we are very realistic about the chances this is artificial.  But because this is a unique situation, we think mankind can afford 10 hours of observing time using the best equipment on the planet to check a low-probability hypothesis.

Again, from the article:

Oumuamua’s unusual cigar shape ― 10 times longer than it is wide ― was also “the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust,” the organization said. However, “a natural origin is more likely.”

So there you go.  While the odds greatly indicate Oumuamua is a “natural” object, because of its weird shape and that its come from outside our solar system, why not check it out and see if any signals come from it?

Have to tell you, I get chills thinking about it.  Kinda/sorta reminds me of some of the stuff I’ve written…!