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Scientists push back against Harvard 'alien spacecraft' theory [Oumuamua]
Agence France-Presse ^ | 6 Nov 2018

Posted on 11/07/2018 10:22:54 AM PST by Olog-hai

A scientific paper led by two researchers at Harvard University made a splash this week by claiming that a cigar-shaped rock zooming through our solar system may have been sent by aliens.

The researchers noted in a pre-print of the article that it was an “exotic scenario,” but that “Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization.”

Oumuamua, the first interstellar object known to enter our solar system, accelerated faster away from the Sun than expected, hence the notion that some kind of artificial sail that runs on sunlight — known as a light sail — may have helped push it through space. […]

Their suggestion of an alien force at work went viral.

But other astronomy experts aren’t buying it.

“Like most scientists, I would love there to be convincing evidence of alien life, but this isn’t it,” said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astrophysicist at Queens University, Belfast.

“It has already been shown that its observed characteristics are consistent with a comet-like body ejected from another star system,” he told AFP. “And some of the arguments in this study are based on numbers with large uncertainties.”

Katie Mack, a well-known astrophysicist at North Carolina State, also took issue with the alien hype. “The thing you have to understand is: scientists are perfectly happy to publish an outlandish idea if it has even the tiniest sliver of a chance of not being wrong,” she wrote on Twitter. …

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; Education; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: amirsiraj; asteroid; astronomy; aviloeb; c2017u1; comet; harvard; interstellar; jasonwright; oumuamua; science; shmuelbialy; xplanets; yurimilner
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1 posted on 11/07/2018 10:22:54 AM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

2 posted on 11/07/2018 10:25:53 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Olog-hai

Normally, I’d agree with scientists....however, there is one odd part to this story...the object left going away, at a higher rate of speed, than when it approached. There hasn’t been a decent explanation laid out on why.


3 posted on 11/07/2018 10:26:55 AM PST by pepsionice
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To: Olog-hai

In france they associate ufos with a cigar shape.

I wonder if one of the scientists is french


4 posted on 11/07/2018 10:27:22 AM PST by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: pepsionice

I’d say slingshot effect.


5 posted on 11/07/2018 10:30:17 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: PGR88

There is more proof that this is ET than there is proof of global warming.

Mus not be any grant money on the table...


6 posted on 11/07/2018 10:34:42 AM PST by DanielRedfoot (Hate is the new Love... ~ hug a snowflake)
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To: Olog-hai

I’m sorry, miss, but the solar sail ‘rock’ is “settled science.”


7 posted on 11/07/2018 10:35:16 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: DanielRedfoot

Did they think it was coming to check on the humpback whales
?


8 posted on 11/07/2018 10:35:50 AM PST by john316 (JOSHUA 24:15 ...choose you this day whom ye will serve...)
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To: Olog-hai
"...accelerated faster away from the Sun than expected"

similar behavior has been seen in comets due to outgassing. The only mystery is that no actual outgassing has been observed.
9 posted on 11/07/2018 10:39:39 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: pepsionice

“the object left going away, at a higher rate of speed, than when it approached. There hasn’t been a decent explanation laid out on why.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist


10 posted on 11/07/2018 10:42:07 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Olog-hai

If Harvard wants to pursue studying aliens they should start with Obama and work their way up from there.


11 posted on 11/07/2018 10:42:15 AM PST by V_TWIN
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To: Olog-hai

At least one of the Harvard scientists read ‘Rendezvous with Rama’.


12 posted on 11/07/2018 10:42:26 AM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: Olog-hai
Link to the original paper. In any case, it has interesting tidbits on what's in interstellar space and their effects on objects moving thru it.
13 posted on 11/07/2018 10:42:48 AM PST by C210N (Republicans sign check fronts; 'Rats sign check backs.)
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To: Olog-hai
Cigar-shaped interstellar object may have been an alien probe, astronomers suggest


14 posted on 11/07/2018 10:42:52 AM PST by Fido969 (In!)
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To: pepsionice
..the object left going away, at a higher rate of speed, than when it approached. There hasn’t been a decent explanation laid out on why.

If you notice in the above picture, the 'object' made a pass by the Sun.

This is the same MANEUVER that has been used for years by NASA. The spacecraft flies a circular path near a planet which CATAPULTS it to a higher speed. VOYAGER for example used several of these GRAVITY ASSIST MANEUVERS.


15 posted on 11/07/2018 10:43:19 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Olog-hai

Say that reminds me. Lifeforce is free on Amazon Prime now.

It proved the theory that you CAN get tired of watching a gorgeous broad walk around buck naked.


16 posted on 11/07/2018 10:47:05 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: Olog-hai

I’m quite sure this will mean almost nothing to my FRiends,
but I work with “scientists” every day.
One thing I have noticed is that they are almost,
to a one, hard leftists
with CORE BASIC BELIEFS, including for instance anthropogenic global warming.
1. And they will never be wrong, no matter the evidence,
2. And they will never even THINK to admit to being wrong,
3. And they will never be EXPECTED to admit being wrong.
They are “scientists,” so THEY ARE RIGHT.
Squirrels are purple and eat filet mignon? Yes.
Yes, yes, yes. Because the “scientists” say so.


17 posted on 11/07/2018 10:47:07 AM PST by golux
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To: Olog-hai

And if you know anything about that movie, you know why I brought it up. :)


18 posted on 11/07/2018 10:47:30 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: Olog-hai

Didn’t someone already ID the object?

According to sources it’s the Mother wheel.

5.56mm


19 posted on 11/07/2018 10:48:20 AM PST by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP!)
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To: golux

More like pagan priests. Particularly when they eschew the scientific method all the time.


20 posted on 11/07/2018 10:49:06 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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