Support NeoGAF

[L0wMax]

Maybe it's an alien spacecraft.

Scientists have been puzzling over Oumuamua ever since the mysterious space object was observed tumbling past the sun in late 2017. Given its high speed and its unusual trajectory, the reddish, stadium-sized whatever-it-is had clearly come from outside our solar system. But its flattened, elongated shape and the way it accelerated on its way through the solar system set it apart from conventional asteroids and comets.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/scienc...a-object-could-be-alien-spacecraft-ncna931381

I would be interested in seeing a mission launched to this thing to see what it really is.

Edit: The actual research paper.

Edit 2: A spooky video about it


Edit 3:

 

[Chairman Tickles]

If it simply uses light sails to accelerate, it would by this point be going much faster, assuming it has an extrasolar origin. Too fast to realistically even transit or make use of the gravity of our star. Unless of course it had some way of slowing down as it approached our solar system. We would have detected such a deceleration, because if it uses something as conventional as light sails it would also be using conventional means of slowing down, such as a nuclear propulsion method. The energy required to slow down such an object even from non-relativistic 5% to 0.1% the speed of light would have been enormous and we would have seen the thermonuclear thruster flashes as it was approaching the sun.

Alternatively maybe it turned its sails towards our sun to slow down, and this would have happened roughly halfway during its transit from an alien star system. But this means it is a very long haul spacecraft, perhaps a generation ship as such a way of deceleration would exponentially add to its travel time, equaling its lengthy acceleration.

I will gravitate (pun intended) towards it being just a rock on a highly elliptical orbit. given its unusual shape, I will also assume it broke off from a much larger object on its last transit around our star.

 

[L0wMax]

If it simply uses light sails to accelerate, it would by this point be going much faster, assuming it has an extrasolar origin. Too fast to realistically even transit or make use of the gravity of our star. Unless of course it had some way of slowing down as it approached our solar system. We would have detected such a deceleration, because if it uses something as conventional as light sails it would also be using conventional means of slowing down, such as a nuclear propulsion method. The energy required to slow down such an object even from non-relativistic 5% to 0.1% the speed of light would have been enormous and we would have seen the thermonuclear thruster flashes as it was approaching the sun.

Alternatively maybe it turned its sails towards our sun to slow down, and this would have happened roughly halfway during its transit from an alien star system. But this means it is a very long haul spacecraft, perhaps a generation ship as such a way of deceleration would exponentially add to its travel time, equaling its lengthy acceleration.

I will gravitate (pun intended) towards it being just a rock on a highly elliptical orbit. given its unusual shape, I will also assume it broke off from a much larger object on its last transit around our star.

They say it can't be something originating from our solar system because of its speed. The orbit is so hyperbolic that it rules out the possibility of it breaking off from an object already in orbit around our sun.

 

[Mohonky]

They're coming to take Trump home

 

[haxan7]

Seems the most likely explanation is it's a weirdly shaped space rock.

 

[Kenpachii]

How to get funding.

1) Another boring rock
2) Alien spaceship.

 

[L0wMax]

How to get funding.

1) Another boring rock
2) Alien spaceship.

 

[jonnyp]

Wow, a big rock that flies through space really fast. News at 11.

 

[L0wMax]

Wow, a big rock that flies through space really fast. News at 11.

Wow, a drive by post on a forum. News at 11.

 

[jonnyp]

Wow, a drive by post on a forum. News at 11.

Hehe, well you wasted a few mins of my preeeeeeecious time! *smooches*

 

[L0wMax]

Hehe, well you wasted a few mins of my preeeeeeecious time! *smooches*

 

[LordPezix]

If it simply uses light sails to accelerate, it would by this point be going much faster, assuming it has an extrasolar origin. Too fast to realistically even transit or make use of the gravity of our star. Unless of course it had some way of slowing down as it approached our solar system. We would have detected such a deceleration, because if it uses something as conventional as light sails it would also be using conventional means of slowing down, such as a nuclear propulsion method. The energy required to slow down such an object even from non-relativistic 5% to 0.1% the speed of light would have been enormous and we would have seen the thermonuclear thruster flashes as it was approaching the sun.

Alternatively maybe it turned its sails towards our sun to slow down, and this would have happened roughly halfway during its transit from an alien star system. But this means it is a very long haul spacecraft, perhaps a generation ship as such a way of deceleration would exponentially add to its travel time, equaling its lengthy acceleration.

I will gravitate (pun intended) towards it being just a rock on a highly elliptical orbit. given its unusual shape, I will also assume it broke off from a much larger object on its last transit around our star.

If it is alien tech, you would have ZERO knowledge as to what or how they could do what they do. All this earth based shit has to leave your mind when thinking about this stuff.

You have to remember that any and all alien contact that we may have is most likely so far advance in regards to their technology that we wouldn't even have the slightest clue.

We haven't even put people on mars let alone have the tech to achieve inter galactic travel. I mean these fuckers are probably on the iPhone 1000.

 

[5secondrulesucks]

 

[Nymphae]

The Ringmakers of Saturn is a book written by an ex NASA researcher who believed the rings around Saturn were not a natural formation and were being created by the giant elongated cylindrical spaceships in orbit around the planet. It's a fun little UFO Youtube rabbit hole if you have the time and interest.

 

[Cunth]

I don’t believe in things I can’t pronounce

 

[LordPezix]

I don’t believe in things I can’t pronounce

 

[L0wMax]

Can we just make this our UFO thread? I love this stuff (as long as it's credible and not some inbred drunk redneck)

 

[5secondrulesucks]

Can we just make this out UFO thread? I love this stuff (as long as it's credible and not some inbred drunk redneck)

yeah i love dis ish too

 

[Weiji]

We should shoot a nuke at it just for fun. (I know we’d miss)

 

[Dr. Claus]

Cute idea, but no. It is a floating rock in space, not an alien or alien related tech. Would love to be wrong, but the chances of it being alien are so minuscule that there is a better chance that I am a literal god.

 

[royox]

I mean these fuckers are probably on the iPhone 1000.

well, at the rate Iphones keep getting bigger it could be an alien iphone1000 flying around recording or sending pictures of our solar system lol

 

[Chairman Tickles]

If it is alien tech, you would have ZERO knowledge as to what or how they could do what they do. All this earth based shit has to leave your mind when thinking about this stuff.

You have to remember that any and all alien contact that we may have is most likely so far advance in regards to their technology that we wouldn't even have the slightest clue.

We haven't even put people on mars let alone have the tech to achieve inter galactic travel. I mean these fuckers are probably on the iPhone 1000.

Yes but the observed physical phenomena we know about apply everywhere in the universe. We're not that blind to what's possible and what isn't in terms of energy and matter. For example, humans have created here on earth by artificial means states of exotic matter and temperatures far in excess of anything in the current observable universe sans black holes and the first stages of the big bang.

Granted, its trajectory is super suspect. If it is a disguised alien interstellar probe, it's definitely probing Earth's shit:

 

[down 2 orth]

Can we just make this our UFO thread? I love this stuff (as long as it's credible and not some inbred drunk redneck)

Holy shit

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

The trajectory only seems interesting if you are thinking of our solar system as stationary. But we are moving through space like this:

It's not strange for us to intersect with another object in space.

 

[GermanZepp]

[QUOTE="MrTickles, post: 253554009,

[/QUOTE]

I would love to someone edit some text on the gif. Maybe something like: "Ohh the earth.. nice" when is aproaching the solar system, then "ughh it's has furrys on it" and "see you later bitches" after the slingshot..

 

[royox]

Granted, its trajectory is super suspect. If it is a disguised alien interstellar probe, it's definitely probing Earth's shit:

The trajectory is even scarier from this point of view

It's like it's literally looking for the 3 planets closer to the star, the ones with more chances to have life.

 

[L0wMax]

The trajectory is even scarier from this point of view

It's like it's literally looking for the 3 planets closer to the star, the ones with more chances to have life.

And it accelerated away with no visible comet tail.

(reduction in mass from evaporating ice would cause acceleration)

 

[Insane Metal]

The trajectory only seems interesting if you are thinking of our solar system as stationary. But we are moving through space like this:

It's not strange for us to intersect with another object in space.

No we are not. Stop.

 

[GermanZepp]

The trajectory only seems interesting if you are thinking of our solar system as stationary. But we are moving through space like this:

It's not strange for us to intersect with another object in space.

Are you sure? I always thought that kind of movement implies we can't (for example) see twice the same star in the same place. Discalimer: I don't know anything about space.

 

[L0wMax]

No we are not. Stop.

He's right though. It all depends on your frame of reference. If your frame of reference is the center of the galaxy, then we are moving very fast around its center. I'm surprised by the amount of people that believe the stars are fixed and do not move.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

No we are not. Stop.

Are you sure? I always thought that kind of movement implies we can't (for example) see twice the same star in the same place. Discalimer: I don't know anything about space.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/starts...pace-now-we-know-on-every-scale/#297d748861f2

 

[Pagusas]

No we are not. Stop.

....whats your problem?

 

[royox]

Are you sure? I always thought that kind of movement implies we can't (for example) see twice the same star in the same place. Discalimer: I don't know anything about space.

We are moving while the rest of the universe is moving, that's why it looks like we are still and you see the same stars every night.

 

[GermanZepp]

We are moving while the rest of the universe is moving, that's why it looks like we are still and you see the same stars every night.

I understand that we are moving within the galaxy and that everything dances and expands. But that gif messes with my head, cause looks like is isolated from other stuff. So.. there is no object in space that remains still? Edit: grammar

 

[Mihos]

Are you sure? I always thought that kind of movement implies we can't (for example) see twice the same star in the same place. Discalimer: I don't know anything about space.

Technically, we don't. But even if a star is moving very fast in the opposite direction, the position takes years to change. Think of parallax scrolling. for example. When you are in a car, an object just a mile or so away appears to move much slower than object that is close. Extrapolate that out billions and trillions and beyond miles, and it would take millions of years for that object to appear to move.

Here is what Orion will look like over time

 

[royox]

I understand that we are moving within the galaxy and that everything dances and expands. But that gif messes with my head, cause looks like is isolated from other stuff. So.. there is no object in space that remains still? Edit: grammar

It LOOKS LIKE but it isn't.

And for the last question....no. Only the center of the universe should remain still IF it exists.

 

[julio_grr]

the center of the universe should remain still

According to general relativity the universe has no center.

 

[iconmaster]

No worries, guys.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-07-14/humpback-whale-population-recovering

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

No worries, guys.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-07-14/humpback-whale-population-recovering

 

[HaveButOneLife]

They're coming to take Trump home

Surprise, it's Hillary. Did you really think it was the hair that made her alien? Nope, it was her complete lack of consequence for her actions, that lady got away with so many things that she might as well be from another universe

 

[hivsteak]

So.. there is no object in space that remains still?

Nothing is ever still. Every mass is externing a force on every other mass (gravity!), even if it is infinitely small and negliable. Electrons are orbiting protons and neutrons. There is radiation, electromagnetism, and tons of factors and forces not worth mentioning.

 

[iconmaster]

The fact that it's spinning so chaotically makes me doubt it's anything other than a fast rock. I guess it could still be an alien probe that got in an accident along the way, but... probably not.

 

[L0wMax]

The fact that it's spinning so chaotically makes me doubt it's anything other than a fast rock. I guess it could still be an alien probe that got in an accident along the way, but... probably not.

That's what they want you to think.

 

[Leonard Washington]

The trajectory only seems interesting if you are thinking of our solar system as stationary. But we are moving through space like this:

It's not strange for us to intersect with another object in space.

This is the only style of space locomotion that makes sense for me, that sun in the middle everything else spinning round as it sits still stuff always seemed off. Which one is more accurate as this spiral orbit thing has only done the rounds in the past few years but its what I intuited as a child.

 

[Kamina]

Could it have collided with something that caused it to get redirected?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I understand it’s most likely not an alien spaceship but for me it is cool to imagine it might be. That’d be pretty awesome.

Honestly, even a giant ass flat rock hurtling through space is pretty cool too.

 

[julio_grr]

Reminds me of when some claimed they had discovered a Dyson Sphere here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852
Here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ructure/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cf7a8c346da2

 

[GermanZepp]

Nothing is ever still. Every mass is externing a force on every other mass (gravity!), even if it is infinitely small and negliable. Electrons are orbiting protons and neutrons. There is radiation, electromagnetism, and tons of factors and forces not worth mentioning.

Thanks! it's a cool thing to think. "Nothing is ever still". I understand that in diferent scales, all things and forces are moving and creating the fabrics of other stuff. I was thinking about stillness in a more general way, i thought maybe black holes are still as if, they grow but they stay in the same place. Gonna read some more. Very interesting. Thinking about the space stimulates my imagination. Edit: Grammar

 

[bigedole]

The trajectory only seems interesting if you are thinking of our solar system as stationary. But we are moving through space like this:

It's not strange for us to intersect with another object in space.

Watched this for too long lol

 

[hivsteak]

I thought maybe black holes are still as if, they grow but they stay in the same place.

Black holes move as well! They have mass and behave as anything else. Matter and energy are pulled into the black hole and the force is so great it is deconstructs it and holds it in an infinitely dense space (people call this the singularity point). Whatever is pulled in loses the characteristics it once had. Water is no longer water, light is no longer light, etc.

Black holes decay very slowly (they release mass over time). My opinion is everything as it exists today was once part of a black hole. That black hole slowly decayed over time and collapsed, releasing everything. They are the ultimate recycler. Eventually everything will be sucked into a black hole again to start the cycle over.