‘Oumuamua — a curious, cigar-shaped rock — was the first interstellar space rock ever discovered in our solar system, though scientists debate whether it should be classified as an asteroid or comet. Now, a new study suggests that the strange object could actually be an alien light sail, or solar-powered spacecraft.
Abraham Loeb and Shmuel Bialy from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) conducted the study, titled “Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain ‘Oumuamua’s Peculiar Acceleration?” The paper was posted on the preprint website, the arXiv. In it, the astronomers offer a unique, new explanation for some strange behavior ‘Oumuamua has displayed.
The asteroid was first detected by the Pan-STARRS-1 survey in 2017. Astronomers saw it traveling out of our solar system and noted that it was spinning rapidly and likely had a rocky and metallic composition. Further research showed that ‘Oumuamua was also surprisingly icy, despite it not being a comet.
