Oumuamua asteroid hints at violent past

[Still Waters]

The space interloper 'Oumuamua is spinning chaotically and will carry on doing so for more than a billion years.

That is the conclusion of new Belfast research that has examined in detail the light bouncing off the cigar-shaped asteroid from outside our Solar System.

"At some point or another it's been in a collision," says Dr Wes Fraser from Queen's University.

It is yet another intriguing finding about this strange object that has fascinated scientists since its discovery back in October.

'Oumuamua comes from a different star system. Its path across the sky confirms it does not originate in our solar neighbourhood.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43018706

[Still Waters]

Previous threads:

 

[Black Monk]

I'm looking forward to watching this month's episode of the BBC's The Sky At Night tonight all about Oumuamua.

[stevewinn]

6 minutes ago, Black Monk said:

I'm looking forward to watching this month's episode of the BBC's The Sky At Night tonight all about Oumuamua.

i was just going to post a heads up for tonights Sky At Night. according to the TV guide its the last of the series, for all the years i've watched the Sky At Night i didnt know it stopped for a break. When does the new Series start?

 

[Black Monk]

10 minutes ago, stevewinn said:

i was just going to post a heads up for tonights Sky At Night. according to the TV guide its the last of the series, for all the years i've watched the Sky At Night i didnt know it stopped for a break. When does the new Series start?

 

I don't know why it says that on the TV guide. It doesn't say it on tvguide.co.uk. It must be a mistake. I'm sure it'll be on again next month.

[Eldorado]

34 minutes ago, Black Monk said:

I don't know why it says that on the TV guide. It doesn't say it on tvguide.co.uk. It must be a mistake. I'm sure it'll be on again next month.

You're correct.  Here's the BBC Guide. There's two upcoming episodes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h

Edited February 11, 2018 by Eldorado

[NCC1701]

The "tumbling" that they observed is an induced  rotation to create artificial gravity in both ends of the starship.

[paperdyer]

We can have the new Doctor check it out.

Was the asteroid moving that fast that someone couldn't launch something or someone to get a better look at it?  I can't believe we just let it go by with very little investigation.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2 hours ago, paperdyer said:

Was the asteroid moving that fast that someone couldn't launch something or someone to get a better look at it?

Yes it was. But that is no different to any other newly discovered comet or near Earth asteroid. These things are moving far too fast to simply launch a probe to with a few days notice.

For example ESA's famous Rosetta mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko required 10 YEARS and a fly-by of Mars to catch its target.

Besides do you really think that space agencies have enough funds to keep a few spare rockets and multi-billion dollar space probes laying around just in case something interesting turns up unexpectedly?

3 hours ago, paperdyer said:

I can't believe we just let it go by with very little investigation.

We didn't, which is how we have learned so much about it in just a few weeks. Just because we can't reach it with a spacecraft doesn't mean it was ignored. It was examined by many of the leading observatories. 

[+Not A Rockstar]

How cool! Here is a bit more on it for those who missed that show. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/small-bodies/asteroids/oumuamua/in-depth/