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`Oumuamua seen getting a boost


Waspie_Dwarf

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Hubble sees `Oumuamua getting a boost

New results indicate interstellar nomad is a comet

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`Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in the Solar System, is moving away from the Sun faster than expected. This anomalous behaviour was detected using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in cooperation with ground-based telescopes. The new results suggest that `Oumuamua is most likely a comet and not an asteroid. The discovery appears in the journal Nature.

`Oumuamua — the first interstellar object discovered within our Solar System — has been the subject of intense scrutiny since its discovery in October 2017 [1]. Now, by combining data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Gemini South Telescope, an international team of astronomers has found that the object is moving faster than predicted. The measured gain in speed is tiny and `Oumuamua is still slowing down because of the pull of the Sun — just not as fast as predicted by celestial mechanics.

arrow3.gif  Read More: Hubble/ESA

 

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During the initial hype surrounding Oumuamua, I had wondered, at least once or twice, if it could have been part of a large, fast-moving debris field, maybe from an ancient supernova. That was an ominous thought. If it is accelerating now, I doubt that would be the case so this is nice to hear. So, an interstellar comet? That is interesting all by itsef. This thing sped through like a bullet, and now it's being propelled in spite of the slow-down? That is intriguing. I wish badly there was enough of a heads-up on things like this to allow for us Earthlings to send a probe in enough time. Effing hell. We need to stockpile probes and have at least two or three prepped for immediate departure at all times.

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2 hours ago, Jon the frog said:

Did she got a tail ?

No tail, or even the luminous halo called a coma have been seen with Oumuamua, not even when it was nearest the Sun, when these should be the most conspicuous. It was not understood to be a comet.  Interesting that now, a change in the object's course through space is found. This was discernible, even over a relatively short course of observations. Was a very low level of cometary activity  sufficient to alter the object's course, to this degree?

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It's worth remembering that the object is said to be tumbling on all three axes.

How would a single, or multiple, out gassing points generate a smooth and continuous change in speed. Surely the overall effect would be to cancel out any net push in one direction ? 

Edited by L.A.T.1961
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2 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

It's worth remembering that the object is said to be tumbling on all three axes.

How would a single, or multiple, out gassing points generate a smooth and continuous change in speed. Surely the overall effect would be to cancel out any net push in one direction ? 

Yeah, the tumbling could diminish the heat point so it diminish the tail at the same time. But the evaporating face and trust will always be on the sun side whatever the tumbling.

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15 minutes ago, Jon the frog said:

 But the evaporating face and trust will always be on the sun side whatever the tumbling.

Good point, but would there be a latency effect where maximum heating happens past the point of direct solar alignment? 

I tend to think of this object, due to rotation, heating proportionally though it's mass which would drive out-gassing in areas well past an axis aligned on the sun?  

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5 hours ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

Good point, but would there be a latency effect where maximum heating happens past the point of direct solar alignment? 

I tend to think of this object, due to rotation, heating proportionally though it's mass which would drive out-gassing in areas well past an axis aligned on the sun?  

Probably a latency effect occur indeed ! Would clearly be interesting to put that on a simulator with trust vector !

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On 2018-06-28 at 6:29 PM, bison said:

No tail, or even the luminous halo called a coma have been seen with Oumuamua, not even when it was nearest the Sun, when these should be the most conspicuous. It was not understood to be a comet.  Interesting that now, a change in the object's course through space is found. This was discernible, even over a relatively short course of observations. Was a very low level of cometary activity  sufficient to alter the object's course, to this degree?

A change in the object's course? That sounds interesting. Naturally occurring objects don't do course corrections, however, artificial objects can.

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7 hours ago, fred_mc said:

A change in the object's course? That sounds interesting. Naturally occurring objects don't do course corrections, however, artificial objects can.

Yeah, hey listen, it is not a space ship, no need to get silly about it again as that subject has come and gone.

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13 hours ago, fred_mc said:

A change in the object's course? That sounds interesting. Naturally occurring objects don't do course corrections, however, artificial objects can.

Actually, comets have been known to change course, due to outgassing. It's not an unreasonable possibility in this case, either. The matter is not settled, though. Jim Oberg, who is quite skeptical of 'extraterrestrial' claims, having debunked many, is not so sure about this one. He cites the apparently rapid increase in the object's velocity as asking a lot of a barely outgassing comet, especially one whose tail and coma have never even been seen.        

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The researchers who wished to explain the acceleration of Oumuamua as due to outgassing from a comet published a letter in the science journal Nature. In it, they admitted that a number of suppositions had to be made, in order for their hypothesis to work. They said that it must be assumed that Oumuamua contains several materials unusual in comets, for the outgassing to be sufficient to accelerate the comet to the degree observed.  

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