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It rotates, so its brightness changes over time. From examining this data they can draw some conclusions about its shape.
by Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
It rotates, so its brightness changes over time. From examining this data they can draw some conclusions about its shape.
- mirimir 9y agoSure, but "some conclusions" is a long way from "cigar-shaped".
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y agoWhen a factual mistake is called out, it's probably better to do some research instead of doubling down. >The astronomers figured out its elongated shape when they noticed its brightness varied when it rotated every 7.3 hours. When the asteroid’s long side faced the Earth, more of its surface area could reflect sunlight, making it more visible to us. And when the tip of the rock faced us, it was a very dim point of light. >“What we found was a rapidly rotating object, at least the size of a football field, that changed in brightness quite dramatically,” planetary astronomer Karen Meech, who led the University of Hawaii team, said in a statement. “This change in brightness hints that ‘Oumuamua could be more than 10 times longer than it is wide — something that has never been seen in our own solar system.” Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/a-cigar-shaped-asteroid-just-boomeranged-through-our-solar-system https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/a-cigar-shaped-asteroid... Statement from the team in Hawaii: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/Oumuamua/ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/Oumuamua/ You would be surprised how much we can infer with p>0.05 based on information that looks scarce from the outside. Much of what we know about the universe is found from surprisingly simple sources.
- mirimir 9y agoWe'll never know.