He's a visitor who has swept through our solar system and left humanity full of unanswered questions.
The asteroid 'Oumuamua (“scout” in Hawaiian) gives full meaning to the etymology of the word “foreign”: this object “from elsewhere” was really very strange.
A new study published in
Nature
nevertheless thinks it can solve at least some of its mysteries.
In October 2017, astronomical automatic detection systems spotted a small body speeding at around 100,000 km/h.
Gradually, astronomers understand that it is on such a trajectory that it cannot come from the Solar System, and that it will come out just as quickly after having "grazed" the Sun.
Amazement: this is quite simply the first time that humanity has detected an interstellar object.
And this is not its only peculiarity.
First of all, its luminosity varies a lot, which suggests that it is a very elongated rotating object...
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