The Cellar - Nov 21st, 2017 : Oumuamua

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- - Nov 21st, 2017 : Oumuamua (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=33180)

Nov 21st, 2017 : Oumuamua

Oumuamua*, not to be confused with Mahamana, the first interstellar visitor to our solar system we’ve seen.
After all the junk we’ve sent hurtling into the void, remember paybacks are a bitch. I could be filled with little green men with
ray guns. Or insects, giant carnivorous insects. Or Nymphos… but probably not. :(

http://cellar.org/2017/cigar.jpg

Quote:

On October 19, the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii spotted something strange zooming through our solar system. It turned out to be a visitor from beyond our solar system, and it's unlike anything astronomers have seen before.
-snip-
They acted fast, and multiple telescopes focused on the object for three nights to determine what it was before it moved out of sight at 85,700 miles per hour.
-snip-
The long and rocky cigar-shaped object has a burnt dark-reddish hue due to millions of years of radiation from cosmic rays. This hue is similar to that of objects found in the Kuiper Belt, in the outer part of our solar system, but its orbit and shape firmly place it in the category of interstellar origin. It most likely has a high metal content and spins on its own axis every 7.3 hours.
But the shape, 10 times as long as it is wide, has never been seen before. This complex and convoluted shape means the object varies incredibly in brightness.

* "a messenger that reaches out from the distant past."

I have it on good authority that it's mostly a dense metal like gold. The thing is solid gold.

Absolutely ƒucking fascinating. The first object we've encountered from beyond our own little neighborhood --and it's unlike anything we've ever seen. What are the odds that other solar systems are filled with mostly familiar objects, but--coincidentally--the only object we've ever observed just happens to be totally unique and unprecedented??

...

I'll Devil's Advocate my own question: we only noticed this thing because of the variance in brightness, thus the shape, thus we noticed the orbit and determined it's origin. We wouldn't have paid that much attention to a regular-shaped object. This is just selection bias.

"I could be filled with little green men with
ray guns. Or insects, giant carnivorous insects. Or Nymphos… but probably not."

If this isn't a typo, then it explains a lot...but probably not.

Quote:

Or Nymphos…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint (Post 998970)

I'll Devil's Advocate my own question: we only noticed this thing because of the variance in brightness, thus the shape, thus we noticed the orbit and determined it's origin. We wouldn't have paid that much attention to a regular-shaped object. This is just selection bias.

I don't think it's selection bias because the people watching the sky notice anything moving and try to identify it. It's sort of a competition to be the first to spot something new and possibly have it named after them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim (Post 998971)

"I could be filled with little green men with
ray guns. Or insects, giant carnivorous insects. Or Nymphos… but probably not."

If this isn't a typo, then it explains a lot...but probably not.

It wasn't a typo. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 998973)

Plus they have a new tool and a new mission to look for this type of thing.

Thanks, guys. I really wanted to go with my 1st impression: that this object is a heliocentric worldview-shattering discovery, opening up a whole new chapter of unexplained, weird stuff. Why have we never seen a thing this shape before?? How was it formed?? What kind of bizarre conditions would create such a thing??

...death, by bunga bunga.

I'm goin with, just, some star farted and we smelt it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad (Post 998989)

I'm goin with, just, some star farted and we smelt it

He who denied it, supplied it.

He who smelt, it dealt it.

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