'Oumuamua: First extrasolar object spotted?

[Ori Vandewalle]

Asked if there is a clear leading candidate explanation for 'Oumuamua's acceleration, Loeb referred Live Science to a not-yet-released book he authored called "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth," due for publication in January.

Sigh.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Sigh.

Science done as an opportunistic cash grab and for personal media glory.

Still the title seems clear what he thinks, so I don't need to buy it

 

[Astro Pen]

It has never been meaningfully photographed. I for one am hesitant to let the narrative be dictated by a quick and early "artists impression".
I have said before that I do not believe biological life can cross interstellar distances, appealing as the idea maybe.
Robotics and space junk are something else though. I think if we see another one it will almost certainly be a natural entity. If we never see anything like it again the book is somewhat more open.

 

[Vertigo]

Okay so I'm an intelligent extraterrestial and I'm sending a probe off through the galaxy. With all my super advanced technology I still think it's going to be a good idea to have it tumbling end over end; that should make any futuristic drive really easy to design. The original ET speculation suggested a solar sail so fine we couldn't detect it*, so obviously the best object to tether to such a sail is a long tumbling object. Of course!

Yet for a solar sail to work would we not be able to see it's lit side really clearly as it departs the solar system?

 

[Brian G Turner]

IIRC, Harvard have been very involved in the theoretical development of solar sails, so don't be surprised if the book is actually an advert for their work on that.

 

[Ori Vandewalle]

I for one am hesitant to let the narrative be dictated by a quick and early "artists impression".

Agreed. I don't think we should take the cigar shape too seriously. The object has a very weird lightcurve, and one interpretation is an elongated, tumbling cigar, but it's only that--an interpretation.

 

[Serendipity]

More news on what Oumuamua might actually be... New Theory Perfectly Explains ‘Oumuamua Naturally: It’s A Nitrogen Iceberg

 

[Extollager]

Agreed. I don't think we should take the cigar shape too seriously. The object has a very weird lightcurve, and one interpretation is an elongated, tumbling cigar, but it's only that--an interpretation.

It’s a cigar from the humidor of Galactus.

 

[mosaix]

More:

Space oddity Oumuamua probably shard of Pluto-like world, scientists say

Interstellar visitor likely made of frozen nitrogen, cookie-shaped rather than cigar, and not a comet or asteroid – while some stick to alien theory

www.theguardian.com

 

[Dave]

I still think it's going to be a good idea to have it tumbling end over end; that should make any futuristic drive really easy to design.

To produce artificial gravity by centripetal force?

NB. I'm not saying this is a spacecraft, just that I could see a spacecraft rotating, and I could also see a large spacecraft being hewed from a huge rock/iceberg.

Except that it would need to rotate much more quickly to produce enough centripetal force. So, such a ship would not be a cigar shape but the more classic spinning top UFO shape.