Since he roamed through the neck of the cosmic jungle, the interstellar visitor first Scientists were astonished and baffled. Now, a new theory has emerged that the cigar-shaped space rock might actually be a dust bunny.
Here on Earth, “dust bunnies” are clumps of dust and debris piled up together by static electricity that floats around the furniture, propelled by the passing breeze. But the scientists who conducted a new study suggest that “Oumuamua, the first interstellar being observed in our world.” Solar System, It could be (basically) an expanded dust bunny.
The study, led by Jane Lu, an astronomer at the University of Oslo in Norway, suggests that interstellar space rocks could have formed from dust flying out from the nucleus of a comet outside of our solar system. These rocks, which are an accumulation of rock and dust from the comet, will be pushed through space by solar radiation and eventually take a short tour of our solar system.
Related: Oumuamua: The first interstellar visitor in the solar system illustrated in pictures
After scientists discovered Oumuamua in 2017, they formulated countless theories about what an object is, how it might form and how it travels very quickly through space. Theories surrounding the thing had to take into account Oumuamua’s strange, cigar-like shape and high speed, at around 57,000 mph (92,000 km / h).
Researchers suggested this Perhaps the body is solid hydrogen So, as the rock approaches a star, it turns into gas and pushes Oumuamua forward. Some scientists have suggested that the thing that appears to have looked like a cigar was It actually resembles a disk in fact. Still others wonder if the rock could ever be Sail Space Light Built by an intelligent kind of aliens.
In the new research, Luo and her team suggested that a large chunk of rock might have once severed the core of the comet, and as dust and gas particles flow away from the core, they would stick to the rocky segment, eventually forming “Oumuamua.” . Over time as the fragment grows, the gas flow away from the comet will eventually push the dusty rocks into space.
Scientists suspect that the original comet was a “long-range” comet that took a long time to orbit its stars and travel further away. Due to the comet’s weak gravity and radiation pressure, researchers believe that the object separated from the original comet on a path into interstellar space, eventually making a short bend across our solar system.
Luu believes that with sky-scanning technologies such as the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System), which first spotted ‘Oumuamua in 2017, we will start seeing more and more interstellar intruders like Oumuamua,’ According to a statement. The Pan-STARRS Telescope 1 Hawaii, which sits atop the Haleakala volcano in Maui, is a powerful space rock hunting center that can see very faint things like Oumuamua.
Observing new interstellar travelers is vital, as the rapid speed of “Oumuamua” means that scientists were only able to spot it in our solar system for a few weeks. By discovering new bodies, scientists can also see if they formed the way Luu’s team suggested in the new research on ‘Oumuamua.
This was working Posted on September 4 In The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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