Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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andmar74
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Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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Cyber_Rebel
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

Post by Cyber_Rebel »

If artificial, then the possibility of an old derelict or even an automated derelict would be exciting. The best case scenario for both humanity knowing it's not alone anymore and reverse engineering the technology without worry of a potential hostile space power.

Still good to explore/rule out all natural phenomenon first, I hope it's not too late to send a satellite or something to it.
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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Can we catch Oumuamua?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11 ... -oumuamua/
The short answer is, unfortunately, we are too late now with our existing technology. Although 'Oumuamua is moving at a velocity of 26km/s, factoring in Earth's velocity vector, the delta-v between a spacecraft in Earth orbit and the object is closer to 60km/s. "Chemical propulsion just doesn’t close the case in this scenario," Rogers said. "It’s not feasible."

But what if NASA had worked feverishly after detection of the object on October 19 and already sent a probe into space? The problem with our primary propulsion methods is that, while chemical rockets are very good at getting stuff out of Earth's orbit, they're gas guzzlers in space. Most of our existing in-space propulsion systems are based on chemicals, and they need a lot of fuel—often hydrogen—to move a spacecraft about. In this case, Kos calculated the specific impulse needed for chemical rocket engines to catch 'Oumuamua at about 450 seconds.
And, as always, bye bye.
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andmar74
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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It doesn't matter if we can't catch Oumuamua. ( We probably can ,but it might be too dark to locate and image it).
In the article you can see that it is estimated that the Vera Rubin observatory will find 5 interstellar objects per month! That's incredible. Oumuamua is special regardless if it is artificial or not, and because we found one already, the chances are there are a lot of them hurdling through the solar system constantly.

Addendum Just to clarify, when I say Oumuamua is special, I mean it's unique compared to what we have seen in our solar system. Most likely there are lots of Oumuamua's floating around, but we can't detect them yet.
Last edited by andmar74 on Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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andmar74
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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If artificial, then the possibility of an old derelict or even an automated derelict would be exciting. The best case scenario for both humanity knowing it's not alone anymore and reverse engineering the technology without worry of a potential hostile space power.
It could trigger a space race of epic proportions. USA, China, Russia and the EU will try to get there first. Maybe the EU and USA will team up, along with Britain. One could even imagine a world war, because of the potential benefits of alien technology.
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

Post by andmar74 »

I asked one of the authors of the article "The Mass Budget Necessary to Explain ‘Oumuamua as a Nitrogen Iceberg" Amir Siraj
(https://t.co/RpR0r3yGjY?amp=1) about what is the current best hypothesis for what Oumuamua is.

I got this answer:
There currently does not exist any hypothesis that explains the anomalous properties of ‘Oumuamua without invoking either impossible or speculative formation mechanisms. I would personally love to see new theories about ‘Oumuamua. But we probably have to wait for the next one.
Yes so we need more data from other interstellar objects.
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andmar74
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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I just somewhat trolled Jason Wright on Twitter. He is an American astronomer and skeptical of Avi Loeb's work.
Mr Wright, any comments to the recent news that Oumuamua is not a nitrogen iceberg? What can it be?
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andmar74
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

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Jason Wright answered:
Not really my field, but I think the N2 iceberg hypothesis still works well. We're working from very limited data on a new phenomenon, so nothing will seem to fit exactly until we see another one and can get better data on it.
That's interesting. He is sticking to N2 iceberg, even though it's clearly not working. But he is now pointing to limited data, just in case..
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Re: Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…

Post by caltrek »

Most likely there are lots of Oumuamua's floating around, but we can't detect them yet.
Yup...

Can This Near-Earth Asteroid Help Us Understand the First Interstellar Visitor?
by Monica Young
November 22, 2021

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... r-visitor/


Extract:
(Sky & Telescope) At the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in October, Ari Heinze (now at University of Washington) reported preliminary results for an asteroid, 2016 AK193, that behaves remarkably like ‘Oumuamua: It tumbles like the interstellar object did, and it seems to be just as elongated to boot.

But unlike ‘Oumuamua, this asteroid is not a new arrival; it has probably been going around the Sun for billions of years. Time will tell if its origins shed light on ‘Oumuamua’s mysteries.

“‘Oumuamua was a huge mystery because there has literally never been anything like that seen before,” says Darryl Seligman (University of Chicago), who was not involved in the observations. “So if there's anything that's close to that in the solar system, just from that standpoint, it's worth following up.”

Follow-up will take some patience, though — 2016 AK193 is a near-Earth object, but that doesn’t mean it’s near Earth at all times. It won’t come close enough to observe again until 2029, Heinze says. When it does, it’ll approach within 0.05 astronomical unit of Earth, appearing at about 18th magnitude.

“Hopefully there will be some detailed studies then (e.g., radar imaging plus lots more photometry),” Heinze says, “but there is very little prospect for additional useful measurements in the intervening seven years.”
Don't mourn, organize.

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