Scientists determine the origin of the extra-solar object object ‘Omuamua’

In 2017, the first stellar star was discovered outside our solar system by the Pan-Stars Astronomical Observatory in Hawaii. His name was ‘Omuamua’, which means “scout” or “messenger” in Hawaiian. The Object object was like a comet, but with features that could ignore taxonomy.

Steven Dash of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Alan Jackson, two astrophysicists at Arizona State University, have stepped forward to explain the peculiar features of Omuamua and determined that it may be a fragment of another solar system like Pluto. Their findings have recently been published in papers attached to the AGU Geophysical Research Journal: Planets.

“In many ways Omuamua looked like a comet, but in many ways the mystery surrounding its nature was strange enough, and there was widespread speculation about what it was,” said Eva Deshe, a professor at School Earth f Earth and Space Exploration. Said Professor Eva Desh of Exploration.

From the Object Observation’s observations, Country and Jacques determined many of the characteristics of the Object Object that differed from what would be expected from a comet.

In terms of speed, the expected object entered the solar system at a slightly lower speed than expected, indicating that it has not been traveling in interstellar space for more than a billion years. In terms of size, its pancake shape was also more flattened than other well-known solar system object budgets.

They also observed that when the object object received a slight push from the sun (when the “rocket effect” becomes common in “comets because sunlight evaporates the ice they create”), the pressure was stronger than it could calculate. There was a lack of gas, usually represented by the tail of a comet.Overall, the object was very similar to a comet, but unlike a comet never seen in the solar system.

Dashek and Jackson then imagined that the object budget was made up of different ice and they calculated how fast these ices would be sublighted (moving from solid to gas) as ‘Imuamua passed through the sun’. From there, he calculated the rocket effect, the mass of the object, and the shape and reflection of the ice.

“It was an exciting moment for us,” Desh said. “We realized that a portion of the ice would be more reflective than people think, which means it could be smaller. This same impact of the rocket would then give ‘Omuamua greater pressure than the comet’s experience.”

Dashek and Jackson in particular – found ice in solid nitrogen ice that simultaneously provided an equal match to all the features of the all-budget. And solid nitrogen ice can be seen on the surface of Pluto, so it’s possible that something like a comet is made of the same material.

“We knew that when we completed the calculation of the albedo (how much the body is reflected) we had an effect on the correct idea, ‘Omuamua would match the observations,'” said Jackson, a research scientist and exploration fellow at ASU. The value we observe on the surface of Pluto or Triton turns out to be similar to a body covered in nitrogen ice. “

They then calculated the rate at which solid nitrogen solidified parts of ice on Pluto and similar body surfaces early in the history of our solar system. And they calculated the probability that a share of solid nitrogen ice from other solar systems would reach us.

“It’s likely to be knocked off the surface by the impact of about half a billion years ago and thrown out of its parental system,” Jackson said. “It also explains the unusual shape of the omeuamua made up of frozen nitrogen. As the outer layers of nitrogen ice evaporated, the body shape would gradually become more flat, as the outer layers of soap bar were removed. By use.”

‘Omuamua alien techno? G could be?

Although the comet-like nature of Omuamua was quickly identified, its inability to immediately explain in detail led to speculation that it was published by Avi Lobib in the recently published book “Extraterrestrial: The First Signs of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth”. Harvard University.

This has led to a public debate about the scientific method and the responsibility of scientists not to draw uncontrollable conclusions.

“Everyone is interested in aliens, and it was inevitable that this first object outside the solar system would make people think of aliens,” Desi said. “” But it is important not to jump to conclusions in science. The natural explanation – the amount of nitrogen ice – took two or three years to figure out that everything we know about ‘Omuamua’ matches. It’s not that long in science, and yet to say so soon we have exhausted all natural revelations. “

Although there is no evidence that it is an alien technology, as a piece of a planet like Pluto, ‘Omuamua gave scientists the opportunity to see extrasolar systems in a way they could not before.’ As more objects such as Omuamua are found and studied, scientists can expand our understanding of what other planetary systems are like and how they are similar or different from our own solar system.

“This research is exciting in that we have probably solved the mystery of what ‘Omuamua’ is and we can reasonably identify it as part of the planet ‘Exo-Pluto’ like other solar system’s Pluto,” Desh said. “So far, we have no way of knowing if other solar systems have planets like Pluto, but now we have seen the amount of a pass through Earth.”

Dashe and Jackson hope that in the future telescopes, such as the Chilean Vera Rubin Observatory / Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will be able to regularly survey the entire southern sky, will be able to begin searching for even more international objects. And other scientists can use it to further test their ideas.

“It is hoped that in a decade or so we will be able to obtain statistics on what types of substances pass through the solar system, and if parts of nitrogen ice are scarce or as common as we calculated,” Jackson said. “Either way, we should be able to learn a lot about other solar systems, and whether they’ve gone through the same kind of colliding history that we did.”