Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#1

Post by Osiris30 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 1:12 PM UTC

Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier
scientificamerican.com

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#2

Post by bluedays » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:08 PM UTC

This is pretty cool. I am constantly looking at current events and thinking to myself "what if aliens were watching this?". I feel like it sorta puts things in perspective for me. Seeing that this might be a possibility is sorta thrilling.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#3

Post by czzr » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

Summary: hydrogen iceberg theory questioned as the expected lifespan of a hydrogen iceberg is likely too short, given the distance Oumuamua would have had to travel.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#4

Post by elorant » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

Previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24204323

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#5

Post by henriquemaia » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

I follow the What da Math[0] channel on YouTube to keep up with the latest news on cosmology. I highly recommend it. Very thorough and with daily updates.

[0] https://youtube.com/user/whatdamath

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#6

Post by tremon » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #2

This is pretty cool. I am constantly looking at current events and thinking to myself "what if aliens were watching this?". I feel like it sorta puts things in perspective for me. Seeing that this might be a possibility is sorta thrilling.

If you think this is cool, you should definitely buy the book this advert is about.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#7

Post by sandworm101 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

If we put half the energy we use up arguing about Oumuamua into detecting more interstellar objects we would have the data to end this debate.

I'm a fan of the pragmatic mathematical approach. This was the first thing detected. The chances that the first result is also any sort of outlier are very slim. Detect and track some more of these objects. I'd bet good money that Oumuamua's motion is very explainable once we get some better data from other, similar, objects.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#8

Post by _aky4 » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #2

This is pretty cool. I am constantly looking at current events and thinking to myself "what if aliens were watching this?". I feel like it sorta puts things in perspective for me. Seeing that this might be a possibility is sorta thrilling.

Further we look into the void, further we see how vast it is in length of time and breadth of space. And in that void we're a tiny speck of dust on an already tiny speck of dust. For me, looking at zoomable deep space telescope imagery, it's a 50/50 proposition, either we have the only miracle of life in existence, or it's prolific.

Deepest visible light image of 10,000 galaxies - https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0406a/zoomable/

NGC 1866 star cluster - https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1847a/zoomable/

Runaway galaxy UGC 10214 with thousands of galaxies in backdrop - https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0206a/zoomable/

Abell 2218, a rich glaxy cluster composed of thousands of galaxies - https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0814a/zoomable/

Gordo ("The Fat One") - enormous galaxy cluster with mass of three million billion Suns - https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1802a/zoomable/

Gallery of more of these at https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/zoomable/ - follow a delightful thumbnail, then desperately seek the tiny buried zoomable links on subsequent pages.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#9

Post by zaroth » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

_aky4 wrote: post #8

bluedays wrote: post #2

This is pretty cool. I am constantly looking at current events and thinking to myself "what if aliens were watching this?". I feel like it sorta puts things in perspective for me. Seeing that this might be a possibility is sorta thrilling.

Further we look into the void, further we see how vast it is in length of time and breadth of space. And in that void we're a tiny speck of dust on an already tiny speck of dust. For me, looking at zoomable deep space telescope imagery, it's a 50/50 proposition, either we have the only miracle of life in existence, or it's prolific. Deepest visible light image of 10,000 galaxies - https://www.spacetelescope.org/image…

The incomprehensible vastness in terms both time and space, combined with our own flittering existence, mean that even a universe utterly teeming with life would never see two advanced civilizations actually cross paths.

Re: Mystery of interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua gets trickier

#10

Post by themgt » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #7

If we put half the energy we use up arguing about Oumuamua into detecting more interstellar objects we would have the data to end this debate. I'm a fan of the pragmatic mathematical approach. This was the first thing detected. The chances that the first result is also any sort of outlier are very slim. Detect and track some more of these objects. I'd bet good money that Oumuamua's motion is very explainable once we…

> If we put half the energy we use up arguing about Oumuamua into detecting more interstellar objects we would have the data to end this debate

This HN comment was just the motivation I needed to get off my computer and rededicate myself to polishing eighteen 1.32m gold-plated beryllium hexagonal mirror segments.