Last year, when a star’s unusual dimming pattern couldn’t be explain by scientists, a new theory emerged. The light was being blocked out by an alien mega-structure, one built by an advanced civilization in order to harness their sun’s energy. And now this year, when a strange space rock entered our solar system that can neither be confirmed as an asteroid nor a comet, a new theory emerged. From Harvard University no less. The mysterious object was an alien spacecraft, a solar sail, sent off to the far reaches of the galaxy by a curious cosmologist on the other side of the cosmos.
Personally, I love these sci-fi infused theories. Especially when they are put forth by serious scientists. They prove that we’re actively working towards figuring out the mysteries of the universe and will consider any possibility. No matter how remote it may seem.
As CNN puts it, “A mysterious cigar-shaped object spotted tumbling through our solar system last year may have been an alien spacecraft sent to investigate Earth, astronomers from Harvard University have suggested.
The object, nicknamed ‘Oumuamua, meaning ‘a messenger that reaches out from the distant past’ in Hawaiian, was discovered in October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii.
Since its discovery, scientists have been at odds to explain its unusual features and precise origins, with researchers first calling it a comet and then an asteroid before finally deeming it the first of its kind: a new class of ‘interstellar objects.’”
So, why is Oumuamua so unusual? Why is it that we suspect that it may have alien origins?
Well, for starters there’s the fact that it originated from outside our solar system. Then you have to consider its unusual spin and trajectory and the fact that it sped up as it passed the sun. This would imply that the object is being powered by solar radiation that would enable it to gain speed every time it passed a new star. Now to be fair, comets also act in this same way but when a comet passes by a sun some of its ice melts away, propelling it forward and creating a tail. This object had no such tail so that would seem to imply that it’s not a comet. Or is it?
It’s certainly possible that it’s a new form of comet or asteroid. Or something else entirely. A new class of interstellar object that we just don’t understand yet because it’s the first of its kind. Perhaps there are many more of these types of objects floating around in deep space. Objects that we’ll be able to study more closely in the near future as our telescope technology advances further.
The unknown origin could also be easily explained away. Debris from a distant planet that was wiped out by a star going supernova. The fact that we can’t trace back its origin to a known position, due to the fact that the incident happened millions of years ago, with the sky shifting so much since then, (thanks to dark energy powering the expansion of the Universe), that it has become impossible to line up the trajectory accurately. In the same way that you have trouble locating your blanket at the beach after drifting in the ocean.
But at the same time it is worth noting that the alien solar sail theory does have merit. After all, this technology already exists right here on Earth thanks to the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative and other similar projects. If sending out a probe powered by solar radiation is how we’ll explore the cosmos then wouldn’t it stand to reason that other advanced civilizations would do the same thing?
Is a solar sail the Greatest Idea Ever?
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