In 2017, astronomers discovered the first known interstellar object to enter our solar system, now known as ʻOumuamua. ʻOumuamua is a small body, about the size of a skyscraper

ʻOumuamua is unlike what astronomers expected. It is small and irregularly shaped, but it moves as if it were outgassing. Leading theories suggest that ʻOumuamua is made of nitrogen or hydrogen ice that is sublimating. 

Some researchers have suggested that ʻOumuamua could be an asteroid or a shard of hydrogen ice. In 2020, Seligman suggested that ʻOumuamua is a comet, and he now favors this explanation. 

According to space archaeologist Associate Professor Alice Gorman, ʻOumuamua is still inspiring new ideas seven years later. She says that ʻOumuamua could be a common rock that we have not yet categorized

In 2014, the first known interstellar meteor hit Earth. The meteor, also known as CNEOS 2014-01-08 or Interstellar Meteor 1 (IM1), crashed into Earth on January 8, 2014. It was determined to be interstellar in 2019

The meteor was 1.5 feet wide and weighed 0.46 tons. It burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere, disintegrating into tiny fragments about 100 kilometers off the coast of Papua New Guinea. 

The 2014 meteor is the first known interstellar object in our solar system. It predates the discovery of the 650-foot-wide asteroid ʻOumuamua in 2017

Robert Weryk, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, discovered ʻOumuamua on October 19, 2017. Weryk was using the Pan-STARRS telescope on Maui to search for asteroids approaching Earth when he accidentally found ʻOumuamua

Weryk spotted ʻOumuamua less than a week after it came within 0.16 AU of Earth, which is more than 60 times the distance to the moon. It had passed its closest point to the sun, perihelion, more than a month earlier, on September 9, 2017. 

Astronomers named the object 1I/2017 U1 (ʻOumuamua), which is Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first

Astronomers were certain that ʻOumuamua was an interstellar object by mid-November 2017. This was based on a two-week observation arc that verified a strongly hyperbolic trajectory. ʻOumuamua has a hyperbolic excess velocity of 26.33 km/s (94,800 km/h; 58,900 mph), which is its speed relative to the Sun when in interstellar space

ʻOumuamua was also notable because it was the first confirmed object to have come from a planetary system beyond our own. It was originally classified as a comet, but observations revealed no signs of cometary activity. 

Astronomers also noticed a slight acceleration away from the sun, larger than seen for asteroids and more characteristic of comets. Based on that variation in the light, astronomers determined that ʻOumuamua is much longer than it is wide, by a factor of five to 10, meaning it’s shaped like either a cigar or a pancake

Discovery. The first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, was discovered Oct.19, 2017 by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations (NEOO) Program, which finds and tracks asteroids and comets in Earth’s neighborhood

According to a 2023 theory published in Nature, ʻOumuamua is a comet that travels between stars. The theory suggests that radiation from space reconfigured the ice on ʻOumuamua’s surface, trapping hydrogen gas. As the comet approached the sun, the hydrogen gas was released as a propellant, causing it to accelerate

Another theory suggests that ʻOumuamua is a spaceship with a solar sail. However, most astronomers don’t support this theory. 

ʻOumuamua is currently heading back out of our solar system and won’t be coming back. It’s headed in the direction of the constellation Pegasus and will cross the orbit of Neptune in about four years

However, ‘Oumuamua wasn’t what astronomers were expecting. Small and unusually shaped, it didn’t look like a comet, yet it moved as though it were outgassing. The leading theories involve the sublimation of either nitrogen or hydrogen ice. There is no evidence that ‘Oumuamua was a spaceship

Oumuamua is a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a reddish hue. It is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and is highly-elongated. Its aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date. 

‘Oumuamua was notable because it was:

• The first confirmed object to have come from a planetary system beyond our own 
• Small and unusually shaped 
• Lacked a coma 
• Moved as though it were outgassing Scientists were baffled by its speed as it revolved around the Sun. Its rate increased which contradicts the laws of celestial mechanics. Some theories suggest it could be an alien battle spacecraft or an extraterrestrial Comet preparing to destroy Humanity.

According to a March 2023 article in Nature, scientists have a simple explanation for Oumuamua’s behavior:

• As the sun heats the comet, the icy object releases a gas, which accelerates and changes its expected trajectory through the solar system. 
• A new theory suggests that radiation from interstellar space reconfigured ice on Oumuamua’s surface to trap hydrogen gas. 
• High-energy cosmic rays that pervade the Galaxy, emitted by supernovae and other energetic events, could have turned up to 30% of the comet’s water ice into hydrogen

They found that high-energy cosmic rays that pervade the Galaxy, emitted by supernovae and other energetic events, could have turned up to 30% of the comet’s water ice into hydrogen, which could have become trapped in ‘Oumuamua’s ice as it journeyed through interstellar space

Oumuamua is mysterious because it’s the first known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. It also doesn’t behave like other comets, which are mostly made of ice. 

Here are some other reasons why ‘Oumuamua is mysterious:

• It’s moving so fast that it can’t be bound to the Sun. 
• It’s been wandering the galaxy for billions of years, so it’s impossible to pinpoint its point of origin. 
• It has a shape that’s more extreme than any other known asteroid or comet. Some scientists think ‘Oumuamua might be alien technology, but most think that’s unlikely. Other explanations include:
  • A chunk of solid hydrogen 
  • A hydrogen iceberg that formed in a cloud of gas that dispersed 30–45 million years ago 
  • An object ejected from a young star by gravitational nudges, planet formation, or molecular clouds 

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