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Breakthrough Listen Project to Observe Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua
- nwah1 9y agoI was informed that its shape and rotation make it very unusual, in addition to being the first known interstellar object.
- andygates 9y agoIn our solar system, most small stuff has been rounded by billions of years of collisions. This may be a primeval shard from a high-energy collision in another solar system - unaffected because it was flung out of that system at high speed. Cosmic pointy shrapnel. :) (Big stuff self-rounds per gravity, of course, but this ain't that big)
- netinstructions 9y agoSome more details (besides the announcment) here for the curious https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/yuri-milner-oumuamua-interstellar-asteroid/547985/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/yuri-mil... It'd be crazy if we detected radio signals, in part because we don't really have a good way to send any probes fast enough to visit it closer as it speeds away from us, at least with current technologies. There's more on that here: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/so-you-want-to-send-a-probe-to-catch-up-to-oumuamua/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/so-you-want-to-send-...
- SubiculumCode 9y agoWell that depends on whether it slows down to have a listen before moving on, now doesn't it?? :)
- api 9y agoIf we detected radio signals I'd be all for a crash project to do so, possibly using NERVA or some similar kind of crazy propulsion system. A possible alien artifact would be absolutely worth the risk of launching a nuclear upper stage. Workable designs for NERVA are on the books. I'm sure we could think of some way to fire a very small probe at this thing by putting an absurd amount of rocket muscle behind it. Even a fast flyby with a few measurements and shots would be worth it. I guess barring that we will soon have the JWST.
- techdragon 9y agoThis. We have the technology to go this fast... but no pressing need. Should a pressing need arise I do not doubt we will begin immediately. SpaceX could be turning around Falcon Heavy after Falcon Heavy as we loft fuel tanks to a “probe” we assembled in orbit out of an existing space worthy hardware “core” capable of autonomous operation such as a Soyuz or Dragon capsule, any instrumentation could be just built as stand alone modules and bolted to a separate set of communication hardware. We could conceivably build a probe and chase this thing down to contact in under 5 years.
- SubiculumCode 9y agoIf it took 6 months to build (!!), could we go fast enough to catch up to it in a reasonable time?
- therein 9y agoJust thinking about this scenario is enough to give me goosebumps. Imagine the alien probe about to leave the outer perimeter of our solar system while our makeshift-to-the-aliens probe is trying to catch up to it while detonating one nuke after another. You'd think that would catch their attention.
- api 9y ago"See look at that propulsion system! I told you they were f'ing crazy. Fire the engines again for another burn, quick. Let's get some distance before they figure out that you can create a quantum singularity and the whole solar system goes up." - the aliens
- zaarn 9y agoNERVA? nah. I'd probably go as far as getting the dust of the Project Orion and Medusa spacecraft. That's how you get there fast.
- avenoir 9y ago> “The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization,” Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department and one of Milner’s advisers on Breakthrough Listen, wrote in the email to Milner. It may sound silly, but I find it fascinating that we're finally in a time when someone in such high position in science can say such a thing without fearing ridicule. I'm also grateful that there are people wealthy enough to sponsor these scientific efforts. What an amazing time!
- darepublic 9y agoWhy do you think he doesn't fear or risk ridicule by this statement.
- dekhn 9y agoI think he's bat-shit insane to make a mildly qualified statement like that.
- ceautery 9y agoI propose we call the object "Rama".
- ianai 9y agoSeconded. They did say it was oddly rectangular/columnar.
- fao_ 9y agoThis reads as if you're trying to draw a similarity between Oumuamua and Rama, but if that's the case, Rama was spherical, so I don't see the similarity. The only other thing I can think of is that the 2OO1(&) monolith was rectangular, but they never really moved IIRC. (&): Sorry, screenreaders, but it's so much nicer with the letter 'o' rather than zeros :/
- garmaine 9y ago...no? It was cylindrical in the book.
- peckrob 9y agoFor those who don't know, this is basically the plot of a classic science fiction novel, Rendezvous with Rama. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama)
- 9y ago
- sp332 9y agoThe only reason we suspect that it is cigar-shaped is because its brightness changes (by a factor of about 10) with a somewhat regular frequency. But this indicates that it is tumbling, which would probably not be great for a ship designed with a long shape to reduce interstellar friction. Another potential (but less plausible) explanation is that it is not elongated and tumbling, but just blinking at us somehow.
- ASalazarMX 9y agoCome on, it's obvious it's shaped like a penguin. The change in albedo is caused by the rotation needed to maintain gravity for the small alien penguins within.
- garmaine 9y agoOr that differing composition yields different albedo.
- eps 9y agoWhat if it's a wreck though? :)
- sp332 9y agoYeah - what if it has a distress beacon? Then we'd have to go!
- gldalmaso 9y agoMaybe we are just ignorant of the good interstellar friction reducing technology.
- darepublic 9y agoYou're right tumbling could be just a technology... and even if we find out that it appears to be made out of rock and ice maybe we are just ignorant of interstellar materials technology!
- ianai 9y agoThis would be a possibly good way to learn we’re not alone in the universe. It’s clearly not staying around and thus not a threat. Just a simple “proof of existence”. Edit-yes I’m aware the odds are surely small that it’s something like that. But just the same it wouldn’t be a bad way to learn of “others”.
- putinontheritz 9y agoUnless it released billions of MEMS which have started appropriating resources. Small odds though :)
- SubiculumCode 9y agoWhat an interesting idea.
- colordrops 9y agoBasis of The Expanse series.
- SubiculumCode 9y agooops. I think you just gave me a spoiler.
- colordrops 9y agoNot really, it's revealed pretty early.
- flukus 9y ago> It’s clearly not staying around and thus not a threat. Just a simple “proof of existence” Or a scout. You don't send your invasion/colonization fleet until you've got better intel.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jdnier 9y ago"Oumuamua is now about 2 astronomical units (AU) away... At this distance, it would take under a minute for the Green Bank instrument to detect an omnidirectional transmitter with the power of a cellphone." That's pretty impressive.
- andrewflnr 9y agoI remember from reading about O'Neill cylinders that an object spinning on it's long axis will, under the influence of random perturbation, eventually start tumbling. So I'm wondering, if we take Oumuamua's angular momentum and figure out the rate of axial spin required to get the same angular momentum, do you get anything like earth-gravity equivalent centrifugal force near the surface of the object?
- YaxelPerez 9y agoRelevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1919/ https://xkcd.com/1919/ I read somewhere that this might be a spent first stage, and the real spacecraft is currently decelerating as it approaches our solar system. That would explain the shape, tumbling, and trajectory, but then again "weird space rock" explains those things more plausibly.
- JackFr 9y ago> this might be a spent first stage, and the real spacecraft is currently decelerating as it approaches our solar system. That would explain the shape, tumbling, and trajectory I'm believing this until proved otherwise. I figure that would probably have the real ship arriving probably sometime in my old age, which would be perfect. Live to see the aliens, but close enough to death anyway in case things get ugly.
- garmaine 9y agoFar longer than old age, unless you plan on living a very long time. The thing was only moving a few 10’s of kilometers per second.
- YaxelPerez 9y agoIt's possible that the first stage was also used to decelerate a bit before being jettisoned, explaining the relatively low speed
- garmaine 9y agoNot that low a speed. Let’s say the generational ship was moving 0.01c, at the low end of what’s believable (500-1000 years to a nearby star). That means the ship was decelerated 99.999% of the way from cruise speed before jettisoned. In terms of energy, that’s 99.99999999% of the stopping thrust already expended. That’s without even getting into the rocket equation which makes it even worse. At that point why not carry it into the system with you? The mass would be negligible given the energy budget. Ejecting it seems to serve no purpose but wasting several cubic kilometers of presumably processed material. Why do that? Now maybe it was a probe ejected from a ship at distance, but then why is it tumbling end over end?
- yoodenvranx 9y agoA question to the experts: Is it possible with current technology to send a probe after it? Let's say we decide today to do it and then spend the next 1-2 years to build a probe: would we still be able to catch up to it?
- zaarn 9y agoSeveral designs for propulsion systems capable of these accelerations with sufficient efficiency exist. These fall mostly into the region of nuclear drives such as NERVA or Project Orion/Medusa.