3 ms·

I went thru all Reddit posts and major conclusion was that it cannot be a spaceship - not because of its shape but rather because it was going much too slow. S

I went thru all Reddit posts and major conclusion was that it cannot be a spaceship - not because of its shape but rather because it was going much too slow. Someone calculated with its current speed it needs 50,000 years to get to another star (thank you for correction). So no alien with technology to build something like that would want to ride at a "bicycle" speed. Unless of course they slowed down to take a turn (using Suns gravity pull), just like riding 500HP car you slow down in the corners to leave them safely. Edit: corrected, thank you friend.

Santosh83 9y ago
It probably takes 50,000 years to get to another star. At a speed of ~80 km/s it would take millions of years to get to another galaxy, although I don't believe its current velocity is high enough to escape Milky Way.
- pdonis 9y ago
  The escape velocity from the Milky Way at our position (about 30,000 light years from the center) is roughly 500 km/s, so yes, 80 km/s is well short of escape.
grondilu 9y ago
Could be a derelict, though. Arguably, spaceship wrecks should be more numerous than spaceships themselves. After all, assuming alien spaceships have existed for a long time and have a relatively short operational time, they exist for much longer as a wreckage and are as such much more likely to be found in this form. Just consider our own near-Earth space : there are many more space debris there than there are operational satellites.
- joering2 9y ago
  Few people argued back and forth that it could be a used alien rocket booster.
EthanHeilman 9y ago
>So no alien with technology to build something like that would want to ride at a "bicycle" speed. I agree with this conclusion and I think it is of natural origin but that conclusion does rest on several assumptions. 1. That its current speed is the speed it was traveling at in the interstellar medium. 2. That some technological civilization would be unwilling to wait 50,000 years. 3. That it is working as intended, it may have been designed to go faster but something went wrong. Perhaps it was never intended to cross interstellar distances at all.

Santosh83 9y ago

It probably takes 50,000 years to get to another star. At a speed of ~80 km/s it would take millions of years to get to another galaxy, although I don't believe its current velocity is high enough to escape Milky Way.

pdonis 9y ago
The escape velocity from the Milky Way at our position (about 30,000 light years from the center) is roughly 500 km/s, so yes, 80 km/s is well short of escape.

grondilu 9y ago

Could be a derelict, though. Arguably, spaceship wrecks should be more numerous than spaceships themselves. After all, assuming alien spaceships have existed for a long time and have a relatively short operational time, they exist for much longer as a wreckage and are as such much more likely to be found in this form. Just consider our own near-Earth space : there are many more space debris there than there are operational satellites.

joering2 9y ago
Few people argued back and forth that it could be a used alien rocket booster.

EthanHeilman 9y ago

>So no alien with technology to build something like that would want to ride at a "bicycle" speed. I agree with this conclusion and I think it is of natural origin but that conclusion does rest on several assumptions. 1. That its current speed is the speed it was traveling at in the interstellar medium. 2. That some technological civilization would be unwilling to wait 50,000 years. 3. That it is working as intended, it may have been designed to go faster but something went wrong. Perhaps it was never intended to cross interstellar distances at all.