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'Oumuamua: Interstellar Object: Rendezvous With Rama?

EnolaGaia said:
Sorry - no ...

Oumuamua was clearly influenced by the sun's gravity because (a) it sped up as it approached perihelion (closest approach to the sun) and (b) its trajectory bent into a sharp hyperbolic turn exactly as would have been predicted by solar gravitational effect.

The sun does not, and can not, always capture anything that happens to pass through its vicinity. It can't permanently capture anything that's already moving too fast to be reined in and captured as a new piece of the solar system (i.e., anything that already exhibits escape velocity). The sun's gravitational pull could bend this object's trajectory, but it couldn't brake the object enough to prevent its escape.

Indeed, the sun didn't brake Oumuamua at all ... Subsequent modeling and simulations consistently indicate Oumuamua accelerated during its close encounter with our sun, representing the same sort of 'slingshot effect' (in terms of both trajectory and speed) that we exploit with planetary probes.

Without knowing Oumuamua's mass we can't be precise about the degree to which the sun accelerated it. The 'excess acceleration' folks are trying to explain is the amount by which the object's speed exceeded what the models and simulations suggest. There remains the possibility this excess acceleration represents an artifact of the modeling / simulations and merely approximated data rather than an anomalous fact.

Oumuamua was already traveling so fast, and entering from such an angle relative to our solar system's 'plane', that it was recognized as an interstellar object destined to leave our solar system behind almost immediately after it was discovered.
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Remember what happens on ST when they slinhshot around the sun.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
No I mean he doesn't think it's piloted by aliens more likely unmannered probe/drone.
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In terms of us saying that "there's life elsewhere in the universe" whether we found a robotic probe or living breathing aliens would not seem to make much difference.
 
Xanatic* said:
Isn't the professor contradicting himself regarding the shape? Both saying it's an elongated structure, but also that it's some kind of thin solar sail? Surely those are not made cylindrical?
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No, he gave explanations of this.

Essentially his whole hypothesis is all available current evidence suggests it's not natural - but he is more than happy to be proved wrong when we get more information.
 
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It's freeze-dried dukey from Galactus . . .

(Hey, that would make a great song title . . . )
 
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charliebrown said:
My opinion, UFOs are not from outer space.

We are dealing with another dimension.
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I often postulate (I call it Zebs Grand Theory of Everything) that ghosts/time slips/aliens/UFOs are all one-and-the-same thing; dimensional or time slips. To me it makes a lot more sense than the concept of them all being separate and different phenomena.

Ghosts being time slips into the past, aliens/UFOs being time slips into the future.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
I often postulate (I call it Zebs Grand Theory of Everything) that ghosts/time slips/aliens/UFOs are all one-and-the-same thing; dimensional or time slips. To me it makes a lot more sense than the concept of them all being separate and different phenomena.

Ghosts being time slips into the past, aliens/UFOs being time slips into the future.
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Time Slips always seem unlikely to me.
It's not just about 'when' things happen, it's about 'where' they happen relative to the Universe, with everything orbiting in ever increasing circles, or parabolas.
 
Frasier Buddolph said:
It's a freeze-dried dukey from Galactus . . .

(Hey, that would make a great song title . . . )
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Ladies and gentlemen,

Freeze-Dried Dukey from Galactus
(to the tune of "Okie from Muskogee")

Oumuamua created a sensation
When it came sailing in from out Vega way.
The first detected extrasolar object
But exactly what it was no-one could say.

Its aspect rat-i-o and high albedo
Were thought to be somewhat outside the norm.
While astronomers were noncommital,
Wild laymen's theories soon began to form.

"No way in hell that that durn thing is natural,
It looks just like a rocket ship to me!
If you don't think it was the aliens built it,
Just what else do you think that it could be?"

(Chorus)
Well, it might be a freeze-dried dukey from Galactus,
A city-block-long poo-berg from the stars.
Not interstellar aliens tryin' to contact us.
Just tossin' poop from their yard into ours.

It came from 'bove the plane of the ecliptic
At greater than escape velocity.
Its trajectory was hyperbolic
So it wouldn't be here long for us to see.

So now it's gone and we're left none the wiser.
We'll have to wait 'til the next one comes along.
Maybe we'll get answers to our questions,
'Cuz whatever we think it was, we're prob'ly wrong.

(Chorus)
It was a freeze-dried dukey from Galactus.
At any rate that's my hypothesis.
And we're lucky that the thing didn't impact us,
'Cuz we've too much shit to deal with as it is.
 
Sorry if I'm asking a question that has already been answered but, whatever it's shape, do we know if Oumuamua is tumbling as it moves?
 
pandacracker said:
Sorry if I'm asking a question that has already been answered but, whatever it's shape, do we know if Oumuamua is tumbling as it moves?
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Yes, but ... All this is inferred from analyses of light reflected from the object.

The variations in light / brightness are taken to be evidence the Oumuamua is rotating, and the irregular pattern of variation is taken to be evidence this rotation isn't simply aligned with its trajectory.

ʻOumuamua is rotating around a non-principal axis, a type of movement known as tumbling. ... This accounts for the various rotation periods reported ...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ʻOumuamua
 
Almost finished with Loeb's Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (2021)

I've enjoyed it. He recounts his youth and fascination with philosophy and his switch to astrophysics and cosmology. He stresses the importance of open-mindedness and his unease with authority.

The chapters of the nature of Oumuamua, which is its brightness as an object, its lack of "outgassing", (the process by which comets can alter their course), and the possibility that it was more likely to be pancake-shaped rather than the cigar-shaped illustrations that have been widespread are compelling. He cites Occam's razor which illustrates his theory is the simplest explanation of the object's unique movement and he believes that it is an artificial object, most likely debris.

Loeb spends a lot of time rightly criticizing the inherent conservative mindset of academia and the institutional rejection of anything controversial. He writes about how experts once they've achieved their niche are highly unlikely to rock the boat and embrace new ideas due to the potential disgrace that may bring.

He also discusses why colleagues in his chosen fields struggle with the concept of extraterrestrial life. He speaks about the almost self-imposed limitations of SETI and what with the next generation of telescopes around the corner what they will be able to look for. Essentially bio and technological markers of alien civilizations.

He also talks about Breakthrough Star shot and how already the technology is available to send cheap, tiny spacecraft to the nearest stars, (Proxima Centauri being the first), and how these spacecraft will be able to send back images within 20-30 years. He also remarks on the similarities of his "star-sail" craft and Oumuamua.

I read some very catty quotes from his colleagues who feel they just were unable to pick up the outgassing but I find his arguments compelling and whether Oumuamua is alien by design or not we need to start looking for other civilizations.

Also, his belief in the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not new and he was talking about searching for it way before Oumuamua arrived and left.

8/10 for anyone interested in this strange visitor or just interested in the search for extraterrestrial like.

edit: He gives the sense that we are just a few steps from really exploring space outside of our solar system. It's amazing really.
 
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pandacracker said:
What sort of debris? From an alien spacecraft?

Does he say anything to explain the trajectory?
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Essentially yes. He believes it's a sail similar to what they are proposing in the https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3 Starshot project. He thinks it is a flat pancake design.

He thinks it was given a very weak, (as solar radiation is apparently), push by the sun. He cannot see any evidence that it was a type of asteroid or comet that we currently know of.

His theory is a place holder until we know more. He's pissed off that if we'd funded more interest in discovering alien civilizations earlier on we would have already have had a craft to identify it onhand. Which is too late now.

Well worth a read/listen.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
Take the Oumauamua thread. I read Avi Loeb's book and posted a pretty basic review. I had some "likes" but nobody else spoke about the book or anything in it. One of the leading experts in his field thinks it was alien and the book was published 3 weeks ago, yet nobody comments?
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I must check out that Oumauamaua thread (think it may have passed me by). That definitely interests me...but don'r expect a reply as my knowledge of things asteroidal and astronautic is probably not up to the job.
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try the book, I'm clueless and about space and enjoyed it, and it's also on audible. A really interesting picture of science in modern times not just a story about a possible bit of alien space junk.

He mentions that we "accept" string theory and multiverses in mainstream astrophysics but mainstream academia can't accept the possibility of other alien civilizations being out there.
 
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^ "Loeb, chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, has said that the interstellar object known as Oumaumau that passed through the solar system in 2017 might have been extraterrestrial."
"Oumaumau" is a cat-shaped object that is being kept secret by NASA... :twisted:
 
feinman said:
^ "Loeb, chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, has said that the interstellar object known as Oumaumau that passed through the solar system in 2017 might have been extraterrestrial."
"Oumaumau" is a cat-shaped object that is being kept secret by NASA... :twisted:
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If it were indeed cat shaped it would have knocked something over and then looked at Earth like "What?"
 
Here is what it looks like. Pretty kitty!
1024px-Egyptian_Mau_Bronze.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Mau
By liz west from Boxborough,
MA - Egyptian Mau, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8241906
 
Naughty_Felid said:
try the book, I'm clueless and about space and enjoyed it, and it's also on audible. A really interesting picture of science in modern times not just a story about a possible bit of alien space junk.

He mentions that we "accept" string theory and multiverses in mainstream astrophysics but mainstream academia can't accept the possibility of other alien civilizations being out there.
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I'll put the book on my list
 
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