NASA / JPL-Caltech
Posted on 09/18/2019 1:15:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The team used the Osiris instrument at the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma, Spain, to obtain visible spectra - measurements of sunlight reflected by Borisov.
By studying these spectra, scientists can draw conclusions about its chemical composition, including how it might differ from comets that were "born" around the Sun.
"The spectrum is the red side of the comet's total spectrum, so the only thing we can see in the spectrum is the slope," said Miquel Serra Ricart, from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Tenerife.
In coming days, the team will obtain measurements of the "blue" part of the comet's spectrum. These are expected to be more informative as regards its composition. They could reveal whether it contains organic (carbon-based) molecules, such as cyanide (CN) - seen in Solar System comets.
So while the data so far suggests that Borisov resembles objects found close to home, the scientists could yet see interesting deviations when they analyse upcoming data.
Dr Simon Porter from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, told Science in Action: "'Oumuamua never showed any cometary activity; there was no outgassing as far as we could detect - and a lot of people looked. This one is outgassing like crazy and it's bright."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
gnip
Oumuamua and its twin (little noted - only one report) were scouts, Borisov is the system killer. S. Hawking was right. Too late now.
Outgassing or drive plume???
Zathras knows the first shot missed....
Actually in geologic history, their have been period bombardment.
It is possible this might be part of a normal cycle.
It wasn’t the Centari who did it this time.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
Thank you! Very cool.
Do we know yet if this one is going to be visible from Earth?
Several years ago, I was in a discussion with someone who claimed humans would never travel outside our solar system.
One means of doing so, I suggested, would be to hitch a ride on (colonize) some interstellar object. Their reply at the time was "there's no such thing, and bla, ..."
These recent discoveries have increased the possibility my original idea may actually have merit. Certainly it proves the other guy/gal, in my past discussion, was wrong! ;)
An other possibility, because these objects demand to be investigated, would be to plant evidence of our existence on them. Perhaps even a radio beacon powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), using maybe Americium-241 with a half-life of almost 500 years, and designed to power up the transmitter periodically for several thousand years.
Meanwhile, I hope these newly discovered visitors aren't a prelude to ever increasing numbers, eventually putting our tranquil passage through this a quiet corner of space in jeopardy!
I thought it was the Vorlons who had the planet-killer.
I think only really good telescopes will see it.
Trajectory:
What?!?!?
No Cloaking Device?
Kind of near the asteroid belt, yes?
Even a small object like this might push or drag asteroids.out of the belt, I think.
If they've got a good read on the trajectory of C/2019 Q4, then I don't think it will have the mass to cause any issue at all, unless it strikes some other object as it passes through the asteroid belt, because the curvature of the trajectory indicates its mass doesn't appear to be that great.
My concern is the fact that we've recently witnessed two such interstellar objects transiting our solar system in a very short time frame, objects never recorded before now. Unless improvements in observation are the reason, something may have changed in our corner of space. It may be getting more crowed.
I think if we find a third one, this new phenomenon is going to get everyone's attention.
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