Fresh analysis reveals truefactsidentity of ‘Oumuamua’ object

The first observed object to enter our solar system from interstellar space is a comet, scientists have ruled. They base their claims on new analyses of measurements that seem to confirm earlier speculations about the composition of the interstellar intruder, and may help scientists hunt for similar objects in our solar system.

‘Oumuamua was spotted last October 19 by Rob Weryk, an astronomer working on a network of telescopes located in HawaiioIn Response-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Pan System). Initially, astronomers were notwithsure what they were dealing . It’s worth noting that No cometary activity was observed, so the object was classified as an asteroid.

As you may know, In the absence of previous observations of this type of objectow the rules for naming such celestial bodies had to yet be established by the International Astronomical Union. The object was classified, as interstellar asteroid 1I / 2017 U1 (`Oumuamua – From the Hawaiian agreement „he first messenger arriving from afar”).

Further study of the object revealed it that is about 400 meters in sizeoin length and strongly elongated shape, resembling a cigar. The astronomers also reported that it is dark red in color and about ten times longer than the wider. It flew into our solar system from interstellar from at tremendous velocity space a direction almost perpendicular to the plane of the orbits of the planets , inIndeedour system. Its orbit indicated an origin in the vicinity of the constellation Luteus.

Although it was classified as an interstellar asteroid, not all researchers agreed. But determining whether it is proven asteroid or a comet has an extremely hard. – images thatore we obtained using the roThe telescopesow, showed neither the coma nor the tail usually associated with comets – said Marco Micheli of the European Space Agency, head of theowny author ofThethe study.

m several powerful telescopesow, Using.in. From the Very Large Telescope in January and the Hubble Space Telescope’a, Micheli and together with a organization of scientistsow tracked the route of the interstellar visitor from late October to early Chile 2018. The results of this research were published in the pages of the journal „Nature”.

In determining the position of ‘Oumuamua against a backdrop of stars, scientists noted that the podrożuje w sposob, ktorego cannot be explainedmajorby the gravitational influence of the Sun, planets and other bodies in the solar system. This process is characteristic of a comet, not an asteroid, although a tail of gas and dust has never been observed, companion whichory to most comets. Instead, they found that the and’s trajectory object acceleration could leading be explained by the gases ejected by the ‘Oumuamua.

The modify is so small that it could only be seen by the most advanced observational instruments. Loss of water vapor and other gasesow slightly changes the acceleration of the object. Infact , And these were the ones available to the teamoMichelie’s.

– We analyzed the detailedołowo other possible explanations, and each of them had as a matter of fact gaps, either because the effect wasthetoo weak or because its behavior did not fit data – admitted Micheli.

When ‘Oumuamua approached the Sun, began to warm up, and its icy heart began to melt. This released gases thatore made their way to more than ever the surface and shot outward, causing the object to slightly alter its acceleration.

This explain why the object nevermayformed a trailing tail. The degree of outgassing is smallcfownin comparison to typical comets. ‘Oumuamua emits roalso relatively little debris, perhaps because the dust particles are too large and heavy for weak outgassing to eject them into space.

Sourceosource: SciencephotoNature, , . ESA/Hubble, NASA, , ESO as a matter of fact M. Kornmesser