‘Oumuamua, which entered our Solar System from interstellar space in 2017, may be one of many remnants of a comet, asteroid, or small planet ripped apart by another star.
By Sid PerkinsWhen ‘Oumuamua swooped into our Solar System in 2017, the object stirred up excitement. The strange shape and trajectory of this first known visitor from interstellar space prompted even some serious scientists to suggest it might be an alien probe.
But a new study arrives at a much more mundane explanation.‘Oumuamua—“scout” or “messenger” in Hawaiian—is about 100 meters long, or slightly longer than a U.S.
football field, and at least six times longer than it is wide. The object also didn’t follow a path shaped only by the Sun’s gravitational attraction,