A recent study by a group of scientists at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland, has shed light on Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to pass through the Solar System last October, as reported by Independent.
Oumuamua is a small celestial object resembling an asteroid or comet, originating from an entirely different planetary system and journeying through the Solar System. When discovered by astronomers in Hawaii, this object immediately garnered attention due to its unusual characteristics.
The elongated shape of Oumuamua is unlike anything astronomers have seen in the Solar System. The object appears to be covered by a layer of organic material that shields its icy core from the Sun’s radiation.
The asteroid Oumuamua may have experienced a significant collision with a hypothetical planet within its system billions of years ago. Image: BBC.
Some scientists had previously scanned Oumuamua’s surface for signs of extraterrestrial technology but were unsuccessful. However, Dr. Wesley Fraser and his team at Queen’s University, Belfast, have published a series of studies on this object in an effort to unravel its mysteries. In their latest research published in the journal Nature Astronomy, they provide a more accurate profile of Oumuamua, its origin, and its future path.
“We know that aside from its unusually elongated shape, Oumuamua originated from around another star, had a tumultuous and chaotic past,” Dr. Fraser stated. “Our research truly helps paint a more complete picture of this peculiar interstellar visitor. It’s quite distinct when compared to the majority of asteroids and comets we’ve observed within the Solar System.”
Through the analysis of the object’s brightness and how the data changed over time, researchers observed that Oumuamua does not have regular rotation like most objects within the Solar System but instead spins chaotically. According to Fraser’s team, Oumuamua may have been in this state for billions of years and is expected to continue in this manner in the near future.
“Our model of this celestial object suggests that its chaotic state will persist for billions to hundreds of billions of years before internal pressure causes it to return to normal rotation. While we do not know the exact cause of its chaotic state, we speculate it may be due to interactions with another pseudo-planet within its system before being ejected into interstellar space,” Dr. Fraser noted.
Another mysterious characteristic of Oumuamua is its color. Preliminary reports indicated the object was dark red, but Dr. Fraser’s research reveals that its surface is actually mottled in color. When Oumuamua’s elongated side faces Earth, it appears mostly red, but recent analysis confirms that the rest of the object is undoubtedly neutral, akin to “dirty snow,” Dr. Fraser explains.