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'Oumuamua Outgasses Like a Comet

posted by Fnord666 on Friday June 29 2018, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-don't-call-it-haley dept.

takyon writes:

The interstellar space rock that mystified astronomers is actually a comet

A mysterious space rock, first spotted in 2017, bewildered astronomers — was it an icy comet, a rocky asteroid, or something entirely new? As the object, called 'Oumuamua, hurtles away from us, the mystery may be solved: it's accelerating like a comet.

Researchers tracked the space rock's trajectory on its way out of this solar system, using telescopes on the ground and the powerful Hubble Space Telescope to keep watch even as the interstellar visitor faded out of [sight]. They discovered that 'Oumuamua's speed couldn't just be the result of gravity. It was accelerating — which could be explained by gas puffing out of the sun-warmed end of a comet, the team reports today in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0254-4] [DX].

'Oumuamua.

Also at ESA and ESA/Hubble.

Previously: Interstellar Asteroid Named: Oumuamua
ESO Observations Show First Interstellar Asteroid is Like Nothing Seen Before
Oumuamua Likely Originated in the Local Association (Pleiades Moving Group)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1) by realDonaldTrump on Friday June 29 2018, @08:58AM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday June 29 2018, @08:58AM (#700169) Homepage Journal

    8 stories in a row, tremendous achievement!!!

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by pkrasimirov on Friday June 29 2018, @09:00AM (1 child)

    by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 29 2018, @09:00AM (#700170)

    "gas puffing out of the sun-warmed end of a comet" they said...

    "Got a brand new Tesla, returning home, over!"

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by zocalo on Friday June 29 2018, @09:28AM

      by zocalo (302) on Friday June 29 2018, @09:28AM (#700175)
      Bonus. It even comes with a mannequin for the car pool lane.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by KritonK on Friday June 29 2018, @09:26AM (5 children)

    by KritonK (465) on Friday June 29 2018, @09:26AM (#700174)

    If it looks like a spaceship and accelerates like a spaceship, then it is... a comet ?!?!?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday June 29 2018, @10:12AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) on Friday June 29 2018, @10:12AM (#700189) Journal

      Since it tumbles through space, yes, is a comet.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0

      • (Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday June 29 2018, @11:43AM (1 child)

        by KritonK (465) on Friday June 29 2018, @11:43AM (#700209)

        One man's tumble is another man's rotation around the ship's center of gravity, to create artificial gravity for its crew.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Friday June 29 2018, @01:13PM

          by c0lo (156) on Friday June 29 2018, @01:13PM (#700223) Journal

          Wikipedia entry

          ʻOumuamua is tumbling, rather than smoothly rotating.
          ...
          ʻOumuamua is rotating around a non-principal axis, a type of movement known as tumbling.[10][57] This accounts for the various rotation periods reported, such as 8.10 hours, (±0.42 hours)[12] (±0.02 hours)[11] with a lightcurve amplitude of 1.5–2.1 magnitudes,[11] whereas Meech et al. reported a rotation period of 7.3 hours and a lightcurve amplitude of 2.5 magnitudes.[58][Note 14] Most likely, ʻOumuamua was set tumbling by a collision in its system of origin, and remains tumbling since the time scale for dissipation of this motion is very long, at least a billion years.[59][60]

          ---

          One man's tumble is another man's rotation around the ship's center of gravity

          Maybe the aliens are crazier than your second man?

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0

    • (Score: 2) by tonyPick on Friday June 29 2018, @01:00PM

      by tonyPick (1237) on Friday June 29 2018, @01:00PM (#700220) Homepage Journal

      It's not accelerating like a spaceship; it's accelerating at the wrong time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberth_effect) plus it's acceleration vector is constantly away from the sun despite the fact it's tumbling.

      And this is a tiny acceleration (around 5 x 10^-6 m s ^-2 at 1AU according to the paper)

    • (Score: 2) by melikamp on Friday June 29 2018, @09:07PM

      by melikamp (1886) on Friday June 29 2018, @09:07PM (#700352) Journal
      It's not a comet, it's just an asteroid capable of trajectory-changing farts.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @03:46PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @03:46PM (#700257)

    s/faded out of site./faded out of sight./

    FTFY.

  • (Score: 2) by rts008 on Friday June 29 2018, @04:13PM

    by rts008 (3001) on Friday June 29 2018, @04:13PM (#700269)

    Oumuamua replies: "I am NOT a comet...it is due to the bad burrito I ate in Alpha Centauri, you insensitive clod!"

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