Almost four yearssince its discovery , interstellar visitant ‘ Oumuamua continues to remain a puzzle . Why is that condition ? How did it form ? Last year , a study proposed it was theshard of a planetdestroyed when it buzz off too unaired to its star . A novel survey also intimate it ’s a planetary fragment , but its informant is very different . ‘ Oumuamua could be the shard of a Pluto - similar planet around a remote star .
The research , bring out in two papers in the Journal of Geophysical Research : Planets ( hereandhere ) , aims to explain the singular " cigar " shape and otherpeculiar property – it face like anasteroidbut hie along like acomet – of the interstellar asteroid in one swoop . The squad found that they could excuse a lot of what we have take note so far if the object was made of N ice , like the surface of Pluto .
If that were the guinea pig , the scientist estimate that ‘ Oumuamua ( oh - MOO - a - MOO - a ) first entered the Solar System back in 1995 . As it border on the Sun , it began to slowly evaporate . This process created its weird flatten out form , and explains the physical object getting faster and faster as it passed the Sun , eventually becoming visible from Earth .
“ Being made of fixed atomic number 7 also explains the strange form of ‘ Oumuamua . As the outer layers of nitrogen ice vaporise , the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe of the body would have become more and more more flatten , just like a bar of soap does as the KO’d layer get fray off through exercise , ” Alan Jackson from Arizona State University enjoin in astatement .
It entered the Solar System at a slenderly slower speed than would be expect , hint it has not been traveling in interstellar quad for more than 1 billion years . The researchers suspect a humans like Pluto far away from its star got hit by something , fragments of which flew into space , where they finally got a boost to fly out of the system and across the stars towards us .
“ This inquiry is exciting in that we ’ve probably resolved the mystery of what ‘ Oumuamua is and we can reasonably identify it as a chunk of an ‘ exo - Pluto , ’ a Pluto - corresponding planet in another solar system , ” said Steven Desch , also from Arizona State University . “ Until now , we ’ve had no way to know if other solar systems have Pluto - like planets , but now we have seen a chunk of one pass by Earth . ”
‘ Oumuamua is too little to be studied anymore . To lick this mystery , we will need new observatories that can cover all the interstellar objects that pass through the Solar System . of late , novel researchestimated that there should be seven within the orbit of Earth every year , so hopefully , opportunities to study more will arise soon .
