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Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua' Appears To Be Wrapped In An Organic Insulation Layer (theguardian.com)
dryriver writes: Oumuamua is the cigar-shaped object -- about 400 meters long and only 40 meters in the other dimensions -- that originated from somewhere else in the Galaxy and visited our Solar system while moving at nearly 130,000 miles per hour. Scientists do not know where Oumuamua came from or what it is made of -- it is not shaped like commonly seen asteroids, and unlike comets, it does not leave a trail behind it, not even when it flew past the Sun. Oumuamua seems to be wrapped in a strange organic coat made of carbon-rich gunk that it likely picked up on its long travels through space. The coat, which gives Oumuamua a dark red appearance according to scientists, was examined by using spectroscopy, which looks at the light being reflected from its surface and splits it down into its wavelengths. By looking at those measurements, scientists can work out what the object might be composed of. Scientists regard it as likely that Oumuamua may be of icy composition on the inside, but that the ice doesn't come off the object due to the thick organic crust that is wrapped around it. Oumuamua has also got extraterrestrial watchers excited. Some believe that its strange, long shape suggests that it is a spaceship of some sort passing through our Solar system. Whatever Oumuamua turns out to be, it certainly has researchers and space watchers around the world fascinated and puzzled at the same time.
It would be interesting if it picked up the "gunk" while hanging out there.
Restore the madness of youth's lechery
How fast is that in hogsheads per hand-decades?
When the news about the object broke, I immediately thought about Rendezvous with Rama. Probably many others here as well. Pity that it is impossible to do an intercept mission for closer study.
By "extraterrestrial watchers" they mean crack-pots right? Look I'm all for the idea that we cannot be alone in this universe. In fact I think that the idea that we are alone is down right blasphemous/preposterous, but considering the sheer size of the universe, and the "Special" conditions that would be needed(as far as we know) to propagate sentient life, seeing an "Alien" spacecraft would near impossible. There could be aliens out there now, but what interest would they have in us? We are down right barbaric, not to mention that our own space program(USA) has almost taken a giant leap backwards, with all of the budget cuts! Unless we are to become slaves/food/resources, they would likely have zero interest in us IMHO.
X = -([squareroot] [infinity]) X = (i^2 * [infinity]) or (-1 * [infinity]) X = "A Black hole"
We don't know where it came from but it seems to be a huge shit from some kind of alien. Really big alien.
Just think like when you're flying between Europe and Americas and need to go to toilet. And when you flush it gets out because of cabin pressure and get frozen. Just like Oumuamua is flying on space. And even the shape is almost same.
There can be some kind of bacteria to be investigated but it's not same life form like where it came out from.
The organic insulating layer is some kind of polymer - highly crystallized, extremely tough organic polymer
It was made to last for eons - and to protect the space ship inside during its long, and arduous inter-galatic space voyage
Wat?
X = -([squareroot] [infinity]) X = (i^2 * [infinity]) or (-1 * [infinity]) X = "A Black hole"
Before this thing gets here and starts tearing up the oceans.
No, no, thatâ(TM)s Amagosa.
"That's"
Not even close to her name. Score of 2 for trying though.
Umaguma begets Oumuamua
Or, how not to be a republican slimball
https://www.needtoimpeach.com/
I started following /. 20 some years ago.
This post is my last.
Oumuamua is an amazing find. The dreck posted about it affirms my sense that Slashdot, once a place to look for technological bits and debates, has finally jumped the shark.
Buh-by, /.
Bill Clinton Joke too
But they left a log...
Explaining the Elongated Shape of Oumuamua by the Eikonal Abrasion Model
http://iopscience.iop.org/arti...
Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. - Ludwig von Mises
I've already seen the documentary on this. First the asteroid enters the solar system. Then the Bad Carrots arrive. And finally Lyekka eats Tokyo. Fortunately, we are a type 13 plant, so our suffering shouldn't last to much longer.
It's rotation would probably have broken it up by now. Ice is a good source of water and breathing material, and it's probably good at soaking up impacts. Having the organic crap on the outside to stop the ice subliming is a good trick. Assume Einstein was right and something like is the only way to travel large distances.
We COULD catch it IF we had the will. Not with a manned ship, but a laser powered light sail or even an ion drive we COULD build now.
*whoosh*
First I'll direct your attention to the part where he included "(TM)," which means it's not a typo. /.'s ASCII memes.
Next, I'll point out that "thatâ(TM)s" is one of
If you read at 0, you'll see it in almost every thread lately, so you're going to have a bad time if you try to correct everyone who uses it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Eat too much this holiday season, and you too will find yourself wrapped In an organic insulation layer when spring comes.
I am 20% confident that it is in fact the Zerg.
Fee Fie Foe Fum. I smell the blood of an organic one.
Avi Loeb, Chair of the Harvard Astronomy department, has been unusually enthusiastic about observing Oumuamua for any sign of alien origin. He said “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. We will keep searching for artificial signals from ‘Oumuamua or any other interstellar object that will be discovered in the future.”
Weird. This kind of speculation usually gets mocked savagely in academic circles.
Like the ice turds that cars accumulate in winter, this one could be an intergalactic space ship turd that fell off when the ship decelerated to go into orbit somewhere.
I'm of the mind that aliens have to exist but the universe is just too damn big for sight-seeing missions to be a common past time. However... this... and the Pentagon publishing UFO research that does have some WTF items that defy easy explanation? I'm about ready to start making my tinfoil hat. Hell, we even have a human/lizard hybrid running the US now... anything is possible.
...but itâ(TM)s aliens.
Some believe that its strange, long shape suggests that it is a spaceship
Is there any reason that an interstellar vehicle would or should be "rocket" shaped?
It seems to me that a streamlined profile is quite unnecessary for anything other than a launch from within an atmosphere.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
I corrected myself :). It was from iOS's smart punctuation, which I subsequently disabled.
If I were a deep-space ice-hauler in a galactic civilization, I would cover the chunks with an organic compound (plastic?) in order to avoid cargo loss by sublimation.
And it seems like someone dropped a load.
Really. Think about it.
Stardate 10304.6 ... The Doomsday Machine pooped today. Spock and Bones both wanted to sample it. I told them to take their poop play to their quarters. They both looked at me with suspicious disgust. They think I don't know.
Asteroid on Insulator. Or maybe it's just a huge floating gate. See what I did there?
And have the Alpha Centurians pay for it!
This object is long, cylindrical and "covered" in organic matter? Wanna bet it's also tapered at both ends and smells bad?
People, it's a TURD!
This is the respect humans have in the galaxy: Aliens throw their shit at us.
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
Dead comet most likely. We've seen them before. The ices are either sublimated off or some are trapped in the core. But the UFO freaks don't want to hear it.
long shape suggests that it is a spaceship of some sort
And why is that? You do realize that shape doesn't have to be streamlined in space? There is no air therefore you can have the shape to be any way you like.
They're surveying the area for an interstellar bypass.
That's not an asteroid, nor is it an alien spaceship. It's an interstellar turd.
Well you know these things happen in THREES.
Everybody knows that is false. Next, you'll be claiming that there were two sequels to The Matrix, too.
:-)
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
after its sed n dun
they will examine
they will determine
that it was actually ejected from bEAUhd's anus. Its not shaped like a cigar, but more like a dildo, that vibrates through space n time, to boldly go where no other martial devices dare tread. That red stuff, Its actually brown.. ;)
It's Tinman come to visit our sun.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Oumuamua has also got extraterrestrial watchers excited.
How do we know that???
I'm not saying it's unicode, but it's unicode.
Unless we can find a way to travel faster than sub-electromagnet, we might as well get excited about watching an ant cross the Atlantic ocean to visit Paris. There is most probably no way to "fast travel", no matter what your technological level. That really sucks, but it does tend to keep us safe from alien scumbags using us as their bitches.
It's the dreaded Apple Punctuation Bug.
There could be aliens out there now, but what interest would they have in us? We are down right barbaric, not to mention that our own space program(USA) has almost taken a giant leap backwards, with all of the budget cuts! Unless we are to become slaves/food/resources, they would likely have zero interest in us IMHO.
I agree with you... but THEY don't know that.
Look, it's really almost impossible to fathom the size of our solar system, let alone the universe. I would venture that most people can't even conceptually understand it. But coming up with outright dumb theories - they are great at doing.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
"Let's send this puppy back where it came from. Nuke it."
- Gen. Talbot
Otherwise you would have to accelerate to that speed too, to attach in the first place.
A rubber band net / harness to hold in front of it or a rubber-protected collision would work. If you've got a rubber that can handle that thrust speed.
And Slashdot could fix it by just turning a ‘ into ‘ even if they didn't implement proper Unicode support.
When I read this my first thought was: "Intergalactic turd?"
The object's speed coming into and leaving the Solar System was/will be about 58,800 mph. NOT 130,000 (relative to the Sun). Discovered AFTER its closest approach to Earth, (at 0.16 AU, you could call that a "Close Encounter", but thank god for our asteroid collision system! (sarcasm)) (I suspect that the only reason it WAS discovered is because it passed us so closely - meaning it was reflecting sunlight back to us at near maximum intensity). The reason we (quote unquote) believe it clearly is extra solar is because you can't sling shot off a planet and get its speed vector. So, we can't sling shot a probe to catch it. We have no technology which would enable a probe to catch it, even if we could accurately predict where it will be in 5 or 10 or 20 years, and we can't. We'll be losing sight of it shortly. Ships passing in the night. So cool.
Hmmm.
Frozen, organic, carbon, oblong...
Could this be a 400 meter long frozen turd?
I have to disagree with planetary astronomer Michele Bannister, who said it was cover with “organic gunk”. As a geologist, I say it is quite obvious that it is actually covered with "dirt".
The Colour Out of Space !!!! HP Lovecraft
Jist look at what you wrote.
Sure, you are a anticonspiracy crackpot, but all the signs are there.
(There's probably a ratio of 10:1 anticonspiracy crackpots to conspiracy crackpots anyway. People just think nothing when encountering the first type.)
...and a flagellating tail? Uh oh.
It's a pickle that escaped from a space picnic! Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
Why not use 'sic' to denote it's not a typo..? TM looks like Trademark to me.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Cigar shaped
Organic exterior
Sounds Zentradi. We have the SDF-1 on Macross island now right?
It's a new missile sent by the bugs, they just missed with their first shot. Expect more incoming.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Dude, I know the feeling
Table-ized A.I.
proto-molecule
*mic-drop*
Or humpback whale chatter probe.
Howdy ho! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
"thick crust of carbon-rich gunk" == Inter-stellar bugs on the windshield.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Sorry, had to ask that because it was the first thing I thought of when I read the name of this object. I actually thought it was a hoax/prank for a second.
1. It's some kind of Starseed
2. It's a sentient organic star ship like Gomtuu
3. its something totally natural but really, really, really weird that is going to have people discussing/arguing over what it is for years to come.
My moneys on 3, but 1 and 2 are more fun to think about.
OU muamua give it a little kiss like The Rock in Baraka
The great Russian sci-fi classic "Roadside Picnic" details an interaction with aliens in which we are absolutely not even interesting ot them. They just stop off on earth on their way to somewhere else for a roadside picnic and leave their crap behind, which we think is pure magical stuff. That's what I think this probe thinks of us. Our solar system and our planet are totally uninteresting.
Having just watched these alleged sequels last night, I'd have to say they aren't as bad as I remember them from the original release dates. If you accept a few key things (that Neo only gained limited understanding of the matrix in the 1st film and that also he was purpose grown by the machines to do a task for them (that he sort of did, but differently than expected) so that he has machine implants of some sort that interface to machines in the real world) then the 2nd and 3rd films work fine.
Most geeks expected the sequels to take a particular path and were disappointed (often bitterly) when that didn't happen. But then they would have lost all the non-geeks. Probably wouldn't have made their money back.
obviously.
Shame the the air force just dumped there UFO arm, now there's some real aliens to investigate.
I didn't know he was interstellar. Is this the African spelling of his name?
Oumuamua is the cigar-shaped object -- about 400 meters long and only 40 meters in the other dimensions
The other dimension of a cigar-shaped object is a diameter, and it only has one of those.
Are their ANY nerds left in the tech industry anymore?
You can pretty much gauge the size of a florgzid by the size of its dropping, and this is just a medium sized one. Still I'm surprised to see one this far out --probably really old. Rich in platinum if you can stomach mining it.