Science

First interstellar object to enter the solar system 'Oumuamua' is NOT an alien spaceship


First interstellar object to enter the solar system ‘Oumuamua’ was NOT an alien spaceship, astronomers say – but exactly what the strange cigar-shaped rock is remains a ‘mystery’

  • Professional stargazer Dr Robert Weryk spotted the interstellar traveller in 2017  
  • Its movements led some to suggest it is an alien spacecraft sent to examine us 
  • After studying the data on the space-faring object scientists now say it is natural 
  • However it doesn’t conform to many of the defining features associated with comets and asteroids

Aliens have not journeyed to our corner of the galaxy in an interstellar spacecraft, astronomers said in a new study of the space rock Oumuamua. 

Oumuamua is the first known object to pass through solar system from outside but experts are still unable to pinpoint exactly where it came from or what it is.

The mysterious cigar-shaped projectile – formally named object 1I/2017 U1 – defies description, with characteristics resembling both a comet and an asteroid.

However, it doesn’t conform to many of the other defining features usually associated with these objects – including its direction of spin and lack of a tail. 

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The first interstellar object to enter the solar system is not an alien spaceship , astronomers said in a new study - but its exact nature remains a mystery (artist's impression pictured)

The first interstellar object to enter the solar system is not an alien spaceship , astronomers said in a new study – but its exact nature remains a mystery (artist’s impression pictured)

Oumuamua, Hawaiian for ‘scout’ , spins like a coke bottle and accelerates like a comet, but without the gas jets often seen trailing them.

Its movements have puzzled experts leading some to suggest it is an alien spacecraft sent to examine our solar system.

Study’s co-author Dr Matthew Knight, an associate research scientist in the University of Maryland Department of Astronomy, said: ‘The alien spacecraft hypothesis is a fun idea, but our analysis suggests there is a whole host of natural phenomena that could explain it.

‘We have never seen anything like Oumuamua in our solar system. It’s really a mystery still.

‘But our preference is to stick with analogues we know, unless or until we find something unique.’

Professional stargazer Dr Robert Weryk first spotted the interstellar traveller in October, 2017 at the University of Hawaii’s Haleakala Observatory.

Researchers had just weeks to collect as much data as possible before the strange visitor travelled beyond the reach of Earth’s telescopes.

The object is now out of sight but could take up to 20,000 years before it leaves our solar system onto its next destination.

Dr Knight worked with astronomer Dr Alan Fitzsimmons from Queen’s University Belfast and 14 experts from the US and Europe.

They analysed data from the Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona from their base at the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland.

Oumuamua (artist's impression pictured) is the first known object to pass through solar system from outside, but experts have failed to explain where the object came from.

Oumuamua (artist’s impression pictured) is the first known object to pass through solar system from outside, but experts have failed to explain where the object came from.

Dr Knight added: ‘We tend to assume that the physical processes we observe here, close to home, are universal.

‘And we haven’t yet seen anything like Oumuamua in our solar system. This thing is weird and admittedly hard to explain, but that doesn’t exclude other natural phenomena that could explain it.’

Scientists think it could have entered our solar system after being ejected by a gas giant planet orbiting another star.

And researchers said Jupiter may have created some of its own interstellar travellers by sneaking some of its icy objects through the sun’s gravity field and into foreign solar systems.

They suspect Oumuamua could be the first of many visitors from distant solar systems.

They are awaiting fresh data from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) in 2022 which could reveal more.

Dr Knight said: ‘In the next 10 years, we expect to begin seeing more objects like Oumuamua.

‘The LSST will be leaps and bounds beyond any other survey we have in terms of capability to find small interstellar visitors.

‘We may start seeing a new object every year. That’s when we’ll start to know whether Oumuamua is weird, or common.

‘If we find 10-20 of these things and Oumuamua still looks unusual, we’ll have to reexamine our explanations.’

The full findings of the study were published in The Astrophysical Journal.

WHAT IS ‘OUMUAMUA AND WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT IT?

A cigar-shaped asteroid named ‘Oumuamua sailed past Earth at 97,200mph (156,428km/h) in October.

It was first spotted by a telescope in Hawaii on 19 October, and was observed 34 separate times in the following week. 

It is named after the Hawaiian term for ‘scout’ or ‘messenger’ and passed the Earth at about 85 times the distance to the moon.

It was the first interstellar object seen in the solar system, and it baffled astronomers.

Initially, it was thought the object could be a comet. 

However, it displays none of the classic behaviour expected of comets, such as a dusty, water-ice particle tail.

The asteroid is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated – perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide.

That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or asteroid observed in our solar system to date.

But the asteroid’s slightly red hue — specifically pale pink — and varying brightness are remarkably similar to objects in our own solar system.

Around the size of the Gherkin skyscraper in London, some astronomers were convinced it was piloted by aliens due to the vast distance the object traveled without being destroyed – and the closeness of its journey past the Earth. 

Alien hunters at SETI – the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence based at Berkeley University, California said there was a possibility the rock was ‘an alien artefact’.

But scientists from Queen’s University Belfast took a good look at the object and said it appears to be an asteroid, or ‘planetesimal’ as originally thought. 

Researchers believe the cigar-shaped asteroid had a ‘violent past’, after looking at the light bouncing off its surface. 

They aren’t exactly sure when the violent collision took place, but they believe the lonely asteroid’s tumbling will continue for at least a billion years.



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