Interstellar Oumuamua Was a Dark Hydrogen Iceberg

JUNE 5, 2020 BY EVAN GOUGH


When Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk discovered `Oumuamua passing through our Solar System with the Pan-STARRS telescope, in October 2017, it caused quite a stir. It was the first interstellar object we’d ever seen coming through our neighbourhood. The excitement led to speculation: what could it be?

There was lots of fun conjecture on its origins. Was it an alien spacecraft? A solar sail? Or something more prosaic?

As more observational evidence rolled in, ideas on `Oumuamua’s nature followed. Was it a comet? It had no coma, so some thought it was a partially disintegrated comet, or an extrasolar comet. Could it be an asteroid? `Oumuamua was similar to asteroids in some respects, like its rotation rate. But it was an elongated cigar-shaped object, not round.

As time went on, more studies came out, their thoroughness hampered by `Oumuamua’s brief appearance in our Solar System, and by limited opportunity for observations. A 2019 study suggested that the object was indeed the fragment of a larger disintegrated interstellar comet.

More:
https://www.universetoday.com/146360/interstellar-oumuamua-was-a-dark-hydrogen-iceberg/