A Weird Object Was Seen In The Solar System. We Found Out What It Was

In 2017, astronomers discovered an odd-looking object flying through the solar system. This peculiar visitor, named Oumuamua, made its closest approach to the Sun a month before appearing on our radars. By then, it was already speeding away from our solar system, on a journey through the cosmos. Its appearance sparked widespread curiosity and interest, especially because it was the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system. The object's mysterious acceleration near the Sun even led a Harvard astronomer to speculate that it might be an alien spaceship. But now, astronomers have found an explanation for the behavior of the interstellar visitor. 

So why was Oumuamua (don’t pause after speaking the name) accelerating unusually when it passed close to the Sun? Did it really have any link to alien civilizations? Finally, and most importantly, how will this study unravel the mysteries of the celestial object’s origin?

The 55th episode of the Sunday Discovery Series answers these questions.

RESEARCH PAPER:
Acceleration of 1I/‘Oumuamua from radiolytically produced H2 in H2O ice, Bergner and Seligman -

Created by: Rishabh Nakra
Written by: Simran Buttar
Narrated by: Jeffrey Smith

[itzed]

In the end, it was just a big rock. Probably thrown from a galactic lawn mower.

[sarahk.]

I'm baffled by the thought that alien civilizations is hard to comprehend it would be way more bizarre if there were no advanced civilizations

[jakemoeller]

If only Oumuamua could tell us of its journey! What a story!!

[costrio]

I think perhaps Oumuamua might have been created in a collision between two large objects. It might be a shard, from such an explosion in another star system, then thrown into a curve around it's star, whipping it out until it arrived here. Is there enough of a path to localize the trajectory? There are alternatives to alien probes that suit modern physic, I think.

[onebylandtwoifbysearunifby]

Since this object was spinning (flipping axially really), the solar outgassing would increase that rotational speed (which we didn't detect) unless the outgassing was equal on both ends ...and that would mean it was outgassing on both sides (faces), so would have near net-zero overall acceleration away from the Sun due to H sublimation.

Sorry guys, your new hypotheses doesn't seem to explain observations well enough. Unless this process stopped immediately when the Sun didn't hit it at the exact optimal angle (stopping immediately being the key part here)... then the overall linear acceleration would be in both (opposing orthogonal) directions during rotation. Where's the net linear acceleration coming from?

[garyefferding]

Also, our solar system travels at 450, 000 mph . We passed through an area in the galactic current sheet where this comet resides, along with additional positive charged dust, which is now wreaking havoc on our sun. Not a good sign.

[friendlyone]

Avi of Harvard did NOT originate the speculation it was artificial debrie. Several others postulated that in well-written papers which he read and that impressed him. He had the credentials to bring those ideas to the world. He has since done more research, and become more convinced "artificial" best explains all observations.

[sethcount]

The end of the video suggests a possible solution. Except, it was rotating on 2 axes, therefore it would not have accelerated more than the gravitational math would suggest as it approached the Sun, except possibly on a curve, which it did not. (NOT the curve caused by gravity. It had additional propulsion). More research is needed.

[rickburrington]

I wonder if anyone has modeled the way it cartwheeled through space to see if it was generating gravity? It still wouldn't prove anything but I'd be interested to know.

[stephenlindenfelser]

I found the alien spaceship theory to be a more simple and easier to comprehend than all that techno babble to tell me it was a rock from somewhere that did funny things.

Of course, this rock being a spaceship was predicted to be the Spaceship Macross in Japanese lore known as Anime. Hahahaha

[dond]

When astronomers see a rock they see a rock filled with water or a dirty snowball in order to explain a comet’s tail. I think the rock’s surface is getting etched away by the solar winds and this explains the comet’s tail.

[rahumathullaresavumydeen]

we are not alone in the universe as scientists say

[alphaprior]

I don't know what Oumuamua was, an alien spacecraft or an unusual comet. What puzzles me is that the rejection of alien theory, because it can't be aliens.
Scientific community does well to try and find most logical and plausible explanations but what happens when/if sometime it's really aliens?
We reject it again as impossible? Is that hard to accept such a possibility?

[Afterburner]

I find it fascinating to see the bias against possible alien life being reflected in this video and there was no discussion whatsoever about it's unusual shape which has never before been seen with a natural moon or asteroid. Science has a long way to go...

[pigbenis]

Maybe it was an alien space ship that had been hit hard enough to kill everyone on board and to knock it into the spin and trajectory but not hard enough to completely obliterate it?

[araceliguerrero]

Probably it was trying to land from space on the Easter island as another new historic monument. ❤

[timothyparker]

It came in at the right angle of the sun to get a slingshot effect but that's not possible naturally so it had to be a spaceship kind of looks like a battle star from the TV show Battlestar Galactica

[OstlyBoy]

It's a camouflaged recon vessel, searching for inhabitable planets.

[garyefferding]

It was positively charged, creating attraction with negatively charged bodies in our solar system. Ice had nothing to do with its acceleration characteristic . Keeping in mind most all comets observed are negatively charged and behave accordingly

[noneofyourbizness]

"Oumuamua" is analogous to an odd shaped twig spotted floating in the ocean by a beach goer.
She can't physically see its origin from where she is but she intuitively knows it has one, somewhere over the horizon that would be familiar to her.
Her basic level of knowledge around gravity, density, weather and ocean currents nonetheless allows her to also understand enough about the mechanisms responsible for each step of its journey in order for her to continue her walk along the beach unfazed.

the space flotsam 'Oumuamua' obeying all the laws of gravity (that apply to its estimated mass) and motion, should ideally elicit the same REASONable response from us.