Mystery Object Oumuamua: Interstellar Comet, Asteroid or Spacecraft?

I1/2017 UI aka Oumuamua

Officially classified as I1/2017 UI with "I" referring to interstellar and "1" as the first observable objected originating from deep space. Aptly dubbed Oumuamua, a Hawaiian name meaning 'first scout', the object hurtling through our neck of the woods is drawing attention for it's unique qualities. It was first observed by the Pan-Starrs project or Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System at the University of Hawaii. Pan-Starr's main focus is to detect near earth objects that could potential pose a threat to earth.

• Cigar-shaped (shape never seen in space before)
• 400-800 meters in length
• 80 meters wide
• Reaching Speeds of close to 200,000 mph
• Varies in brightness
• Slightly reddish hue
• Completes a rotation about once every 7.3 hrs
• No debris tail
• Not gravitationally bound to the Sun

Though no clear images exists at this point, it's these unusual characteristics that have the astronomy and space communities buzzing. the fact that the object is cylindrical is an oddity and has never been observed before. In our solar system asteroids are uniformly

The object is a long cylinder shape which researchers suggest a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for a spacecraft since this would minimise damage from interstellar gas and dust.

Express.co.uk

Traveling at speeds of about 88km /sec the object is moving at such fast rate that it's voyage will not be captured by the sun's gravitational force allowing it to pass through the solar system unimpeded. Oumuamua is also expected to pass by Jupiter later next year and continue on past Pluto in the years to come.

Astrophysicists theorise there are between one and ten “visitors” per year in our solar system but they move so quickly that we have never seen one before.

See this excellent summary from:

TexFilms YouTube Channel

A £75 million programme that searches for evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth called Breakthrough Listen, led by Stephen Hawking, is attempting to detect evidence of alien technology transmitting from the object.

Over the last 24 hrs, the initial tests from the electromagnetic spectrum have already been released that suggested that there was no evidence of artificial signals.

The first phase of observations is complete and, as expected, there is no evidence of artificial signals emanating from ‘Oumuamua.

The observations took place on Wednesday, December 13 from 3:45pm ET to 9:45pm ET using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The Breakthrough Listen team observed ‘Oumuamua across four radio bands, which span billions of individual channels from the 1GHz to 12GHz range.

This may come a disappointment to some who were hoping for a 'disclosure' type moment but the investigation is still ongoing and according to TechCrunch there's still a substantial amount of data that has yet to be analyzed.

The instruments at Green Bank accumulated 90 TB of raw data over a period of two hours. Analyzing this data will take some time, and thus far, only data from the S-band receiver (which covers frequencies from 1.7GHz to 2.6GHz) has been processed.

TechCrunch

If you watched the video by TexFilms you'll know that some scientists are eager to 'pursue' and 'chase down' the object along it's trajectory but that's no simple feat as the most powerful chemical propulsion systems aren't even capable of half Oumuamua's current velocity. Still, scientists suggest that using the gravitation of Jupiter as a slingshot' could be a possibility. Whatever happens, Oumuamua is likely to captivate the attention of astronomers for years to come and may yet reveal a few secrets and expand our knowledge of the heavens.

Images: Express.co.uk / The Sun / Daily Mail