You know scientists: They give the best possible explanation to the public and then act like nerds and release a paper years later saying something more ordinary. So it is with the first object to enter our solar system from somewhere else. Dubbed ‘Oumuamua’, scientists are still debating what the mysterious object could be, and surprisingly, the best possible explanation – an alien spacecraft – is still very much in the works.
Oumuamua, or “messenger” in the language of the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, was first seen in the lenses of the object located on the high-powered island. observatory iIn 2017. From its speed and trajectory, it was clear that Oumuamua came from outside the solar system and was spit out again shortly after swinging around the sun.
This gave scientists very limited time to study Oumuamua. Immediately, researchers were excited to be the first to observe an object from outside the solar system taking a detour through our neighborhood. Although initially considered a comet, it was later classified as a type of asteroid due to the lack of a comet – a halo of dust, gas and vapor covering the comet’s nucleus.
But that didn’t seem right either. For five years, astronomers tried to better identify Oumuamua based on the limited amount of data available, but were reluctant to say with certainty that it was one or the other. Could it be anything else? Some kind of intelligent design art?
A new study published by Chinese researchers Astronomy and Astrophysics Wednesday makes it less likely that Oumuamua is a ship because the brightness of its bright periods is not bright enough to indicate photon light sailing motion.
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I’m no scientist, but that seems like a silly reason to discount the spaceship theory. First, while we think of light sails on Earth—sails that capture photons to propel spacecraft, similar to a sailboat—the sci-fi technology has only recently been used in Earth-related space exploration, where aliens can travel. there is probably something a little more advanced among the star systems. Moreover, Oumuamua appeared to be effectively using our sun to launch rockets from our solar system. Could this not be part of his action strategy? Jumping from star to star, using gravity to hit the far reaches of our galaxy?
Harvard physicist Avi Loeb agrees. Loeb said Daily animal the spaceship theory still holds water. Even the Chinese researchers of the original article downplayed the alien angle, admitting it could still be some sort of artifice:
So, as `Oumuamua stretched across the solar system, it must have been really bright at some points and invisible at others. And “Oumuamua he said in its strange journey it grew brighter and brighter than our gaze enough, Shanfei said. “If it was a sail of light, the change in brightness should be greater.”
But “There’s another explanation for ‘Oumuamua’s relative obscurity,” Loeb said — and that’s a possible sail shape. Chinese scientists believe that if Oumuamua had been a light sailing ship, it would have had a flat sail. A flat sail, for example, would reflect more light in its brightest moments than a concave sail.
But the sail “doesn’t have to be flat,” Loeb said. He noted that the initiative with the scientific start-up “Breakthrough Initiative” created by the Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Borisovich is working on umbrella-shaped light sails within the framework of the Starshot space probe project.
The whole debate about the shape of a possible sail can actually be moot. “Oumuamua could be a spacecraft in ‘other forms,’ Shangfei admitted. In other words, it may have no sails at all and instead rely on some other propulsion system.
I didn’t think other scientists would have to insist on using a little more imagination than their colleagues, but I guess it happens. All I’m saying is, it might not be a spaceship, but wouldn’t it be so cool if it were? Come on guys.
