Posted on 11/05/2018 12:53:27 PM PST by ETL
NASA may have ruled that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object ever spotted in our system is a "metallic or rocky object" approximately 400 meters (1,312 feet) in length and 40 meters (131 feet) wide, but a new study from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics says it could be something much more exciting – it could be "a lightsail of artificial origin" sent from another civilization.
The study, which was posted online earlier this month, suggests that Oumuamua's strange "excess acceleration" could be artificial in nature, as it has been implied that it is not an active comet.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The big question, in my mind, is whether the object, and its inhabitants, will arrive in time to vote in the midterms on Tuesday. I’m guessing they have to be alien Trump supporters that were just waiting until we got our $#!¥ together.
RAMA!............................
It might be unicorn poop.
It’s not a lightsail or anything else artificial according to studies already done.
Figure they were tired of doing colonoscopies on cows.
Oumuamua is a mildly active comet, and the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, 40 days after it passed its closest point to the Sun.
When first seen, it was about 33,000,000 km (21,000,000 mi; 0.22 AU) from Earth (about 85 times as far away as the Moon), and already heading away from the Sun.
Oumuamua is a small object, estimated to be about 230 by 35 by 35 meters (800 ft × 100 ft × 100 ft) in size. It has a dark red color, similar to objects in the outer Solar System.
Oumuamua showed no signs of a comet tail despite its close approach to the Sun, but has since undergone non-gravitational acceleration consistent with comet outgassing.
It has significant elongation and rotation rate, so it is thought to be metal-rich with a relatively high density. Oumuamua is tumbling, rather than smoothly rotating, and is moving so fast relative to the Sun that there is no chance it originated in the Solar System.
It also means that Oumuamua cannot be captured into a solar orbit, so it will eventually leave the Solar System and resume traveling through interstellar space. Oumuamua’s system of origin and the amount of time it has spent traveling amongst the stars are unknown.
In September 2018, astronomers described several possible home star systems from which Oumuamua, that was detected passing through the Solar System in October 2017, may have begun its interstellar journey.[15]
However, the object didn’t pass particularly close to any of the objects, making its origin from any one of them improbable.
I don’t pretend to be a scientist, but riddle me this: if
light is pushing a light sail, wouldn’t it move AWAY from the source of light? The sunlight should send it off in another direction long before it approaches the sun. Same with any other star system it approaches. Where am I going wrong?
Was it Asimov, or Arthur C. Clark? I remember the story, in Boy's Life, say 1963ish? A Maltese Cross shaped sail, controlled by multiple fishing reels I have that kind of useless memory.
Okay, it’s a rock or metal object that’s four football fields long and almost a football field wide. How much would that weigh?
And it’s NOT a lightsail. At best, it’s a tiny fragment of an ancient lightsail that was originally much, much larger and heavier. Gotta wonder, how much would the whole thing weigh?
Humans are experimenting with lightsails right now and to send a tiny, teeny thumbnail size “spacechip” to the nearest star will require an ENORMOUSLY powerful laser, so big no one even knows how to build it yet, and a “sail” that’s probably going to have to be kilometers across. And the larger our spacechip is, the exponentially larger and exponentially more expensive the laser and sail will have to be. So... are these super-duper advanced aliens so rich and/or stupid that they couldn’t find something lighter than, oh, say, a trillion tons of rock to build the superstructure of their lightsail out of? Just wondering...
“Rendezvous with Rana”
I’ll get excited when THEY tell me they have rec’d a signal indicating >> 3.1415 etc etc
Couldn’t be an easier way to “send a msg”....
One thing I learned from Star Trek is that if it’s a probe we launched 50 years ago that has become sentient and is seeking us out, we need to find a way to talk it into self destructing.
One of the best ever!
First, look for the simplest explanation. Your inability to understand does not automatically narrow down the possibilities to the only one that you can think of.
It is a shame Art Bell’s voice cannot narrate a good Oumuamua story. I would love to stay up and listen to him, interspersed with Baygen hand cranked radio spots.
The ONE thing I learned from watching Star Trek is to NEVER be the RED SHIRTED guy that beams down to the planet with Spock, Capt. Kirk, Scotty or Bones because YOU ARE DOING TO DIE.
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