Mysterious space object ‘Oumuamua’ that skimmed past Earth is NOT an alien probe, scientists claim
A STRANGE space object that some scientists thought was an alien spaceship or probe is now thought to have a "purely natural origin", according to a new research.
'Oumuamua' baffled scientists when it was first spotted in 2017 and was closely observed as it travelled past Earth in an attempt to work out what it was before it disappeared beyond the reach of Earthly telescopes.
Co-leader of the study Matthew Knight from the University of Maryland said: "We have never seen anything like 'Oumuamua in our solar system. It's really a mystery still.
"But our preference is to stick with analogs we know, unless or until we find something unique.
"The alien spacecraft hypothesis is a fun idea, but our analysis suggests there is a whole host of natural phenomena that could explain it."
Knight and his colleagues did admit that the only similarity Oumuamua appears to have with other space objects is its red colour.
The mysterious object is cigar shaped and moves like a spinning bottle.
The way it is moving forward confuses scientists because there is no evidence of emissions that are normally present when an object, like a comet, accelerates.
Knight helped to put together an international team that closely observed Oumuamua and the data that was collected about it.
He explained: "We put together a strong team of experts in various different areas of work on 'Oumuamua. This cross-pollination led to the first comprehensive analysis and the best big-picture summary to date of what we know about the object.
"We tend to assume that the physical processes we observe here, close to home, are universal.
"And we haven't yet seen anything like 'Oumuamua in our solar system. This thing is weird and admittedly hard to explain, but that doesn't exclude other natural phenomena that could explain it."
The researchers think that the object could have actually been ejected by a giant gas planet.
They expect that Oumuamua is the first of many unusual space objects to come.
Knight said: "We may start seeing a new object every year. That's when we'll start to know whether 'Oumuamua is weird, or common.
"If we find 10-20 of these things and 'Oumuamua still looks unusual, we'll have to reexamine our explanations."
This research has been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Astronomy.
What is Oumuamua?
Here's everything you need to know...
- Oumuamua is a cigar-shaped asteroid that sped past Earth in 2017
- Some boffins think the space rock was an alien probe sent by a distant civilisation
- It was spotted by scientists in Hawaii, and its name means 'scout' in Hawaiian
- Researchers involved in SETI- the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence - used a powerful dish to scan Oumuamua
- They found no signs of radio signals, suggesting it wasn't an alien spaceship after all
- Recent research suggests that the object could have been ejected by a gas giant planet
- It's now moving away from Earth so fast that we're unlikely to ever find out
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Do you have a theory on what 'Oumuamua' could be? Let us know in the comments...
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