Timothy Birdnow

I've been remiss by not discussing Oumoumou, the strange visitor from outside of our solar sywstem that has made something of a splash. I shall now remedy that situation.

First, here is a pretty good overview of the story.

First off, Oumoumou aka 1I/2017 U1 is clearly a body that has come from outside of our solar system. Unlike anything we have seen in the past, this is a true interstallar visitor:

"is some 350 million km (2.3 astronomical units) from Earth, has dimmed to only 27th magnitude, and is receding at another 5½ million km (15 Earth-Moon distances) each day."

End excerpt.

It is an elogated body with a five to ten to one ratio, as opposed to a potato shaped object like a normal asteroid. It is red in color, a common thing when objects are exposed to cosmic rays for a long period of time. It did not produce a tail as a comet would have, which means it either is a solid body or an icy body with a carbon coating to keep it from outgassing. It is unlike anything we have ever seen.

The object is tumbling, too, which is not normal for a comet or asteroid.

One of the more bizarre things that have occured with this is that astronomers pointed the Robert Ku Klux Klansmen Byrd radio telescope aat the thing to see if it was broadcasting! Yes, there were some who believed it might be an artificial alien craft!

Now, this would have to be able to move near lightspeed or it wouldn't work and it isn't. Also, if it were capable of interstellar flight in a normal time span it seems likely the aliens wouldn't use radio but some superior technology; gravity waves or, more likely, a quantum entangled system. So finding no radio waves should hardly surprise us.

At any rate, it likely is just a chunk of rock tossed into interstellar space long ago. Fascinating but of limited information given it's speed and limited visit here.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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