Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Oumuamua Update

It seems that Oumuamua is accelerating away from the sun.

Which tells us that no matter how much it looked like a piece of rock?

It's not. Oumuamua now appears to be a comet. Its rocklike appearance was likely the result of a layer of debris that had collected over its icy heart during its travels.

It's still from another solar system, though. That part hasn't changed.

Apparently the debris layer was so thick that it didn't outgas that much as it passed the sun...but now is producing enough to have some thrust.

(And no, it's still not an alien spaceship. I wish).

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