A MYSTERIOUS interracial visitor who flew to Earth three years ago may have been an alien spaceship, scientists say.
That’s because the predominant explanation of the origin of the cigar-shaped object Oumuamua is fatally flawed, according to a shocking new study.
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Oumuamua took the world by storm in October 2017 when it was identified as the first known visitor from another galaxy.
A few Harvard scientists suggested that the long and thin object was a spaceship, which aroused a fresh flurry of scans by astronomers as it passed.
Experts found no signs of strange signals, and finally concluded that the space guest was a comet – a finding that was probably delayed by the new study.
Scientists had indicated earlier this year that Oumuamua’s molecular makeup suggested that the comet was made of frozen hydrogen.
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That would explain how Oumuamua could propel itself, because hydrogen gas blowing out of the object would have pushed it through space.
However, in a paper published Monday, two astrophysicists claim that this scenario can not happen in the real world.
The team said such “hydrogen icebergs” could not last the long journey between stars thought to take oumuamua.
“We suspected that hydrogen icebergs could not survive the journey – that would probably take hundreds of millions of years,” said Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard University, one of the cohorts of the study.
What is Oumuamua?
Here’s what you need to know …
- Oumuamua is a cigar-shaped asteroid that spun past Earth in 2017
- Some boffins think that the space rock was an alien probe sent by a distant civilization
- It was discovered by scientists in Hawaii, and the name means ‘scout’ in Hawaii
- Researchers involved in SETI – the search for additional terrestrial intelligence – use a powerful dish to scan Oumuamua
- They found no signs of radio signals, suggesting that it was not an alien spaceship.
- Recent research suggests that the object could have been formed by a gas giant planet
- It’s moving so fast away from Earth now that we’ll probably never figure it out
He added that this is because “they evaporate too quickly.”
Professor Loeb was one of Harvard’s original proponents of the theory that Oumuamua was made of foreign technology.
Writing in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, he and Scientific Institute of Astronomy and Space Science (KASI) Dr Thiem Hoang choose several holes in popular comet theory.
Oumuamua surprised scientists because it seemed to behave like something between a comet and an asteroid.
The interstellar visitor was tall and thin – an unusual shape – and traveled at 200,000 km / h while rotating in a “tumbling” motion.
Perhaps strangest of all was that the object appeared to accelerate on its journey, suggesting that it was driven by something.
Some scientists think that rising speed was the work of an alien engine, while others believe that it was simply caused by the natural emission of gas.
Another argument against comet theory is that an oxygen iceberg could not form, researchers wrote in the new newspaper.
What is the difference between an asteroid, a meteor and a comet?
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter), but they can be found everywhere (including in a path that can affect the Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids collide, the small chunks that break down are called meteoroids
- Meteor: When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to evaporate and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it will look like a ray of light in the air as the rock burns up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid does not completely evaporate and the journey through the Earth’s atmosphere survives, it could land on Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet revolves around the sun. However, a comet contains a lot of ice and gas, but can usually be made of rock, which can result in surprising stars behind them (thanks to the ice and dust)
“An accepted route to form a km-sized object is to first form micron-sized grains, then such grains grow by sticky collisions,” said Dr Hoang.
“However, in regions with high gas density, collision heating due to gas collisions can quickly sublimate the hydrogen mantle on the grains, preventing them from growing further.”
The new theory means that researchers can not rule out that Oumuamua is an alien spaceship.
However, most scientists still agree that the object or an asteroid was like a comet.
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In other news, an asteroid the size of a car set past Earth Sunday, in what scientists say is the closest flyby on record.
Nasa recently snapped a beautiful image of a 2,000-foot vortex orbiting Mars.
And, Mars may have taken as long as 20 million years to form, scientists now claim.
What do you think Oumuamua was? Let us know in the comments!
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