Since becoming the first bonafide object to be identified as arriving from outside our solar system, Oumuamua discovered in October 2017 by the Pan-ST

Even If It’s A Lightsail, Oumuamua Isn’t Practical, Say Researchers

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2021-05-27 21:30:16

Since becoming the first bonafide object to be identified as arriving from outside our solar system, Oumuamua discovered in October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS1 survey in Hawaii, has mostly been at the center of an ongoing debate about whether it’s some weird space rock or an interstellar alien probe. Numerous refereed journal papers have devoted much effort in debunking the idea that it’s some alien space probe that just happened to pass through our inner solar system.

Yet a new paper accepted in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics takes the premise that indeed Oumuamua is, in fact, a type of lightsail, even if it’s not artificial. Then the authors set out to prove that even if one accepts that premise that the object is being propelled by photonic radiation, it just doesn’t make sense that an alien civilization would have ever launched it.

As the authors note, Oumuamua exhibits non-gravitational acceleration in its trajectory, as it has been argued that photon-radiation pressure is responsible for this acceleration.