Oumuamua: Did E.T. Send Us Our First Interstellar Asteroid? Scientists Find Out This Week

[joseephuss]

http://www.newsweek.com/oumuamua-di...rstellar-asteroid-scientists-are-going-744560

'Oumuamua: Did E.T. Send Us Our First Interstellar Asteroid? Scientists Are Going to Find Out This Week

Scientists have been watching 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar asteroid, with fascination since it landed on their screens in October. And beginning on Wednesday, a team will be studying it in search of something that would make the object even more groundbreaking: signals indicating it is in communication with extraterrestrial intelligent life.

That decision is based in large part on its weird shape: The object looks like a cigar, about 10 times longer than it is wide. That's different from every other object scientists have ever seen in space, which has raised a lot of eyebrows in the astronomical community. "The very first one looks completely different from the asteroids we're used to," Avi Loeb, an astronomer at Harvard University who suggested (and is working on) the new observations, told Newsweek.

And it wasn't just unusual: It also bore an eerie resemblance to designs he was toying with as part of his work with Breakthrough Starshot, which wants to send a probe to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, to investigate the planet orbiting nearby—or potentially even a whole solar system.

 

[RJ_MacReady]

 

[DallasEast]

I am conflicted. If NASA sends a ship there and returns with a beautiful nude space vampire, do I buy a ticket to get off the planet? Or do I try meeting her knowing I am certainly doomed? Decisions, decisions.

 

[Idgit]

If ET makes first contact via an interstellar space turd, I can’t decide if that’s cool or disappointing somehow.

 

[joseephuss]

If ET makes first contact via an interstellar space turd, I can’t decide if that’s cool or disappointing somehow.

Not every alien can afford the equivalent of a Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Porshe.... Some have to drive a turd or Kia or no frills pick-up truck for their interstellar travel.

 

[Nova]

I like how the artist's rendering of the object looks like a turd from someone who's had the flu for a week.

 

[Nova]

I am conflicted. If NASA sends a ship there and returns with a beautiful nude space vampire, do I buy a ticket to get off the planet? Or do I try meeting her knowing I am certainly doomed? Decisions, decisions.

My advice is YOLO

 

[Them]

 

[TheCount]

I like how the artist's rendering of the object looks like a turd from someone who's had the flu for a week.

If you're crapping 800 meter long turds, you've got something slightly worse than the flu.

 

[Nova]

If you're crapping 800 meter long turds, you've got something slightly worse than the flu.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I am conflicted. If NASA sends a ship there and returns with a beautiful nude space vampire, do I buy a ticket to get off the planet? Or do I try meeting her knowing I am certainly doomed? Decisions, decisions.

What if the Vamp ends up looking like ET? Then what?

 

[DallasEast]

What if the Vamp ends up looking like ET? Then what?

Oh heck no! That is an easy answer. I have always disliked ET, considering how much I usually enjoy Steven Spielberg movies, and its big eyed alien visitor. I would probably bomb NASA if they held a news conference introducing ET!

I was only joking about bombing NASA just in case some member thinks I was being serious. Blowing up buildings is a BIG no no.



I would torch the place.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I was only joking about bombing NASA just in case some member thinks I was being serious. Blowing up buildings is a BIG no no.



I would torch the place.

Wise move Brother.

 

[speedkilz88]

What if the Vamp ends up looking like ET? Then what?

Of course it's hideous (don't you watch the movies?) It has the power to make you think it's beautiful.

 

[DallasEast]

Of course it's hideous (don't you watch the movies?) It has the power to make you think it's beautiful.

I am screwed if it makes me see it as this:

That would not be right, man. NOT RIGHT!

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I am screwed if it makes me see it as this:

That would not be right, man. NOT RIGHT!

So say we all!

 

[Them]

Scan Suggests That Interstellar Asteroid is Not an Alien Craft:

Researchers wondering if an interstellar asteroid passing through our solar system might actually be an alien craft say that a scan of the object indicates that is not the case. Astronomers with the Breakthrough Listen SETI project made headlines earlier this week when they announced plans to check the oddly-shaped asteroid, dubbed 'Oumuamua, for radio signals.

Although the news sparked the imagination of UFO enthusiasts and headline writers around the world, the excitement proved to be short-lived after the team turned a telescope towards the object on Wednesday. Sadly, an initial scan of 'Oumuamua along four different radio frequencies produced no signs of alien life, suggested that it is, indeed, just an asteroid.

The researchers plan to take another sweep of the object this weekend in order to gather additional information and, likely, close the book on the theory that it is an ET craft. Until then, though, we'll keep on hoping that it is an alien vessel and that, having gotten lost in an entirely different solar system, the ET pilot
simply turned the radio off, as many human drivers do, in order to better concentrate on figuring out the directions home. ...Source: The Guardian.

 

[cowboyec]

looks like a derilict space ship to me.