21–30 of 118 posts
Would gravitational pull account for the acceleration? Meaning if it were made (or part of it) of some very dense element like Iridium, there would be an unexpected attraction to our sun?
’Oumuamua, I’ve come to bargain!
I'm still convinced this is an alien probe. I mean look at that trajectory. 0.163 AU from Earth - what are the odds? The spinning is irrelevant surely - I mean, it's all relative, so as far as ’Oumuamua is concerned, we're spinning. Maybe it was spinning that way to stay aligned with a distant companion for communication.
The odds we expect depend on our detection ability. Maybe there are thousands of these objects but we saw this one only because it passed so close to Earth.
Based on the comments in this thread, I'm sure this will soon be an episode of 'Ancient Aliens' on the "History" Channel. If it isn't already.
I'm still convinced this is an alien probe. I mean look at that trajectory. 0.163 AU from Earth - what are the odds? The spinning is irrelevant surely - I mean, it's all relative, so as far as ’Oumuamua is concerned, we're spinning. Maybe it was spinning that way to stay aligned with a distant companion for communication.
Easy enough to test -- we'll eventually see another object following the same trajectory, give or take, but that's decelerating.
(Cue the dramatic music.)
I'm still convinced this is an alien probe. I mean look at that trajectory. 0.163 AU from Earth - what are the odds? The spinning is irrelevant surely - I mean, it's all relative, so as far as ’Oumuamua is concerned, we're spinning. Maybe it was spinning that way to stay aligned with a distant companion for communication.
I prefer a complementary theory -- that it's a spent stage of a multi-stage spacecraft. If the primary stage were decelerating for a rendezvous with Earth, then any stage that made it to full acceleration would reach us first, probably getting close and then flinging back out of the solar system, just like this did. Easy enough to test -- we'll eventually see another object following the same trajectory, give or take…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I prefer a complementary theory -- that it's a spent stage of a multi-stage spacecraft. If the primary stage were decelerating for a rendezvous with Earth, then any stage that made it to full acceleration would reach us first, probably getting close and then flinging back out of the solar system, just like this did. Easy enough to test -- we'll eventually see another object following the same trajectory, give or take…
"And on far-off Earth, Dr. Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had wakened from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes."
It's too bad we're not ready to launch probes to visit and explore such transient objects at a moment's notice.
Let's say it takes us another 50 years to fund and prepare a mission, could we still catch up with it?
I'm still convinced this is an alien probe. I mean look at that trajectory. 0.163 AU from Earth - what are the odds? The spinning is irrelevant surely - I mean, it's all relative, so as far as ’Oumuamua is concerned, we're spinning. Maybe it was spinning that way to stay aligned with a distant companion for communication.
The thought makes me have goose-bumps. Did some alient race just take a close look at us? Was there a voyager-style plaque on it? I guess we'll never know now.
Occam tells us that in reality it is most likely just some space debris from some ancient rock-smashing incident, but the fact that this thing continues to defy classification allows us some space to imagine!
1 - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=voyager+gravity+slingshot+diagram&...