Interstellar Comet Oumuamua is Smaller than Previously Thought, Has Highly Reflective Surface

Sci-News.com ^ | Nov 16, 2018 | News Staff / Source

[ETL]

‘Oumuamua was first detected by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, in October 2017 while the telescope was surveying for near-Earth asteroids.

Subsequent detailed observations conducted by multiple ground-based telescopes and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope detected the sunlight reflected off ‘Oumuamua’s surface.

Large variations in the object’s brightness suggested that ‘Oumuamua is highly elongated and probably less than 2,600 feet (800 m) in its longest dimension.

But NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope tracks asteroids and comets using the infrared energy, or heat, that they radiate, which can provide more specific information about an object’s size than optical observations of reflected sunlight alone would.

The fact that ‘Oumuamua was too faint for Spitzer to detect sets a limit on the object’s total surface area.

However, since the non-detection can’t be used to infer shape, the size limits are presented as what ‘Oumuamua’s diameter would be if it was spherical.

Using three separate models that make slightly different assumptions about the object’s composition, Spitzer’s non-detection limited ‘Oumuamua’s spherical diameter to 1,440 feet (440 m), 460 feet (140 m) or perhaps as little as 320 feet (100 m).

The wide range of results stems from the assumptions about ‘Oumuamua’s composition, which influences how visible (or faint) it would appear to Spitzer were it a particular size.

[fwdude]

The “Bill Clinton” comet?

[ClearCase_guy]

It’s a Strange thing, but I have the feeling we should go and bargain with it.

[z3n]

Mister Shadow is calling

[dfwgator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpiP_jN1Pv4

“It looks like a giant......”

[adorno]

Space giants keep sending their shit our way.

[RandallFlagg]

Speaking of stuff in the sky, I found a little (About 1”) pile of black ash on the hood of my Suburban this morning.
It didn’t look like someone put a cigarette out on it as there was no tobacco chunks and no damage to the paint.
It looks like it just floated down and softly landed there.
It’s ash. REALLY fine black ash.

Weird...

[amorphous]

Looks as if its course was well planned.

On intercept of Voyager 1?

Voyager 1's Back Thrusters Just Fired Up for the First Time in 37 Years [December 1, 2017]

Hmmmm.....

[Candor7]

Scientists Now Say Interstellar Object ( Oumuamua ) May Have Been Alien Probe

Gaia ^ | Nov. 7th, 2018 | Gaia Staff

Posted on 2018-11-07, 6:49:51 PM

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3703859/posts

[Candor7]

Who refueled Voyager 1 ?

[amorphous]

Maybe someone proficient with NASA's object tracker will do a little more checking on how close they will come. I just grabbed the chart images and have no idea if they'll even be on the same side of the solar system, on exit.

First discovered:

The object was discovered Oct. 19 by the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope during a nightly search for near-Earth objects, NASA said. Astronomers are currently working to point telescopes towards the object to obtain more data. Once that's done, the information will be analyzed so scientists can determine more about its origin and composition.

So Voyager's thrusters were fired up two months later. More hmmm...

Whatever it is, NASA is fairly certain it's a unique object.

[PIF]

Whatever it is, NASA is fairly certain it’s a unique object.

---

There was a report shortly after O was discovered of a similar object farther away. No further reports on that object I know about.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The name comes from the Hawaiian “oumuamua”, meaning ‘scout’.

[SunkenCiv]

Oumuamua keyword, sorted:

• Scientists Now Say Interstellar Object May Have Been Alien Probe
• Scientists push back against Harvard 'alien spacecraft' theory [Oumuamua]
• Mysterious interstellar object could be 'lightsail' sent from another civilization
• NASA solves mystery of cigar-shaped UFO, believed to carry alien life
• Interstellar asteroid update [guess]: It's a comet!
• A star disturbed the comets of the solar system 70,000 years ago
• 1st Known Interstellar Visitor Gets Weirder: 'Oumuamua Likely Had 2 Stars
• Interstellar object Oumuamua tumbling chaotically
• Scientists Reveal Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua' Has Organic Shell
• Leading Astronomers: Oumuamua Is 'Alien Probe With Broken Engines,' Could Have Hostile Intentions
• Has an alien probe entered our solar system? Cigar-shaped interstellar 'comet' ...
• Alien Probe or Galactic Driftwood? SETI Tunes In to 'Oumuamua [pronounced 'Yo Mama']
• Project Lyra, a Mission to Chase Down that Interstellar Asteroid
• Solar System's First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists
• ESO Observations Show First Interstellar Asteroid is Like Nothing Seen Before
• First interstellar asteroid is like nothing seen before
• Meet 'Oumuamua! The 1st Interstellar Visitor Ever Seen Gets a Name
• This mystery object may be our first visitor from another solar system
• Researchers observe the first known interstellar comet
• A close call of 0.8 light years [Nibiru?]
• Star Blasted Through Solar System 70,000 Years Ago

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fieldmarshaldj. One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people-eater.

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·

Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

[Redcitizen]

Could be a bit of ash from the fires in California.

[RandallFlagg]

In Denver, though?
I remember St. Helens leaving ash after the eruption, but California is a bit more south for the usual weather currents to carry it here.

[SamAdams76]

I know this was the spaceship guy who made all his followers think they were being taken to a comet but he does look an awful lot like Jeff Bezos.

[Redcitizen]

I don’t know you were in Denver. I was thinking it would be a possiblity ash might fall in the southwestern part of Colorado like Durango and cortez.

[SunkenCiv]

I always figured Marshall Applewhite was Marshal Mathers’ real dad.