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Scientists Reveal Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua’ Has Organic Shell
Breitbart ^ | 12-20-2017 | Nate Church

Posted on 12/20/2017 6:44:36 AM PST by blam

Observations of the oblong interstellar traveler Oumuamua have revealed an unidentified organic coating on it, igniting scientific and public curiosity alike. After “Oumuamua” was initially spotted by a telescope in Hawaii by the Pan-STARRS project on October 19, experts raced to gather all possible information on it before it passed beyond humanity’s collective reach. But, while they expected to find a comet-like chunk of ice passing by our sun, the object mysteriously failed to leave behind a vapor trail as it grazed our home star. Instead, the still-unidentified chunk of ancient space debris hurtling at 60,000 MPH through our solar system left us with a host of new questions.

First, Oumuamua is exceptionally long and narrow — roughly 400 by about 40 meters. The shape is unlike any asteroids in our own solar system. Paul Chodas, Manager of NASA’s Centre for Near Earth Orbit Studies, called it “a strange visitor from a faraway star system, shaped like nothing we’ve ever seen in our own solar system neighborhood.”

Second, the lack of a comet-like tail of vaporized ice — despite passing even within Mercury’s orbit — seems to be the result of unknown organic matter which shields its internal ice from the sun’s immense heat. Also, it’s red. And while some observations tagged it as similar to the shades we see from minerals present in our own system, others suggest that it is significantly darker.

Queen’s University Belfast’s Dr. Michele Bannister of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey called Oumuamua “the opposite” of what she was “expecting we might see.” To her, it is the familiar aspects of the object that intrigue. “It’s travelled for millions or billions of years – it could be older than our solar system. …It’s come from a very long way away

(snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: amirsiraj; asteroid; astronomy; aviloeb; c2017u1; comet; comets; harvard; jasonwright; oumuamua; science; shmuelbialy; startrek; ufo; yomama; yurimilner
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To: blam
Jim... It's organic.


21 posted on 12/20/2017 7:06:45 AM PST by jerod (Nazi's were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: gr8eman

...with Interstellar Overdrive on it!


22 posted on 12/20/2017 7:07:39 AM PST by gr8eman (Facts and evidence are bourgeois constructs weaponized by patriarchal penis-people)
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To: jerod

Well, the Empire does like to dump their garbage before jumping to light speed.


23 posted on 12/20/2017 7:08:21 AM PST by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: bar sin·is·ter

Maybe even the next convention!.................


24 posted on 12/20/2017 7:08:54 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Pontiac

I think, as always, that the principle of “Occam’s Razor” applies.

If it looks like a rock, acts like a rock and there is no reason to think it is other than a rock, it probably is a rock.

Just because it hails from some unknown place of unknown origin and is an unusual event/object, leads no rational person to think it is other than a rock....

Glad to know that the astronomy folks have the tools to see it, track it and ponder about it. But come on, it is a dead rock from somewhere else. It won’t tell us anything we need to know. All we can do is scan it with various sensors and pretend to interpret something from the analysis.

It is a rock.

Can I get my Nobel prize in science now or do I have to wait?


25 posted on 12/20/2017 7:10:16 AM PST by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War")
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To: Red Badger

That was my first thought when I first heard of this.


26 posted on 12/20/2017 7:11:19 AM PST by Joe Brower ( Les deplorables sont victorieux!)
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To: ConservativeDude


27 posted on 12/20/2017 7:11:35 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: gr8eman

Ummagumma...................

28 posted on 12/20/2017 7:12:23 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: blam

Well at least we still have some humpback whales in the ocean...


29 posted on 12/20/2017 7:13:52 AM PST by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: blam

Berzerker on a recon mission.


30 posted on 12/20/2017 7:15:12 AM PST by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: Red Badger

That is a GREAT movie.

I very much enjoy watching it.

Still wish MST3K had done it.


31 posted on 12/20/2017 7:21:13 AM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: blam

Aliens! </Arnold J. Rimmer>


32 posted on 12/20/2017 7:25:40 AM PST by null and void (The internet gave everyone a mouth. It gave no one a brain.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Other times it’s a tour bus, or a very yuge bacterium.


33 posted on 12/20/2017 7:25:57 AM PST by Buttons12
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To: blam

“result of unknown organic matter which shields its internal ice from the sun’s immense heat”

How do they know its insides are made of ice?


34 posted on 12/20/2017 7:26:54 AM PST by Colo9250 (Obama's scout ship just passed by)
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To: blam

Waiting now for the cat & pickle gifs.


35 posted on 12/20/2017 7:27:53 AM PST by Buttons12
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To: blam

Where the heck has the author of this article been for the last several months?

Oumuamua was already classified as being comprised of metallic or rocky materials. The reddish coating has already been explained as being the result of cosmic ray bombardment over millions of years, and the presence of an “organic coating” means it has methane dust and other simple products of organic chemistry on it.


36 posted on 12/20/2017 7:50:11 AM PST by Little Pig
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To: Manly Warrior
It is a rock.

My first thought when the initial stories appeared was, "What's the big deal?" There are plenty of rocks on earth that shatter into long, angular pieces. (Is is mostly sedimentary rocks that do this?) The thing I don't understand is the repeated assertion that the shape is unlike anything else ever detected in space. Is that really true?

37 posted on 12/20/2017 7:50:11 AM PST by sphinx
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To: blam

Everybody got their Slim Whitman cds handy...?


38 posted on 12/20/2017 7:50:49 AM PST by mewzilla (Was Obama surveilling John Roberts? Might explain a lot.)
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To: Red Badger

One of their more esoteric albums.


39 posted on 12/20/2017 7:51:59 AM PST by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: exDemMom

The old ice shedding theory was debunked a decade ago. It’s non magnetic and non conductive so it has no tail...


40 posted on 12/20/2017 7:53:03 AM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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