{"id":18728,"date":"2017-11-20T20:01:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T12:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/aloha-oumuamua-scientists-confirm-that-interstellar-asteroid-is-a-cosmic-oddball\/"},"modified":"2017-11-20T20:01:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T12:01:49","slug":"aloha-oumuamua-scientists-confirm-that-interstellar-asteroid-is-a-cosmic-oddball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/aloha-oumuamua-scientists-confirm-that-interstellar-asteroid-is-a-cosmic-oddball\/","title":{"rendered":"Aloha, \u2018Oumuamua! Scientists confirm that interstellar asteroid is a cosmic oddball"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oumuamua\"
An artist\u2019s conception shows what the interstellar asteroid \u2018Oumuamua might look like. (ESO Illustration \/ M. Kornmesser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Update:<\/strong> Scientists say the interstellar asteroid known as \u2018Oumuamua is like nothing that\u2019s been seen in the solar system before, with an \u201cextreme oblong shape\u201d that\u2019s as much as 10 times as long as it is wide. The details are laid out in a paper published today by the journal Nature.<\/p>\n

Nature\u2019s authors say \u2018Oumuamua is relatively dense, possibly with high metal content, lacks significant amounts of water or ice, and shows no signs of dust. They estimate its length to be at least 1,300 feet (400 meters), which is longer than previous estimates.<\/p>\n

The size estimate is based on how the light reflected by the object varied over the course of a roughly 7.3-hour rotation period. No direct observations of \u2018Oumuamua\u2019s shape could be made, but one can only imagine what conspiracy theorists might come up with.<\/p>\n

Previously:<\/strong> An interstellar asteroid has received a name that\u2019s fitting to its status: \u2018Oumuamua (\u201cOh-moo-ah-moo-ah\u201d), a Hawaiian word meaning \u201ca messenger from afar arriving first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first-of-its-kind object forced the International Astronomical Union to come up with a new system for designating small bodies that apparently come from beyond the solar system. Such objects will be given numerical names that contain an \u201cI\u201d for interstellar.  \u2018Oumuamua\u2019s designation is 1I\/2017 U1.<\/p>\n

\u2018Oumuamua was discovered Oct. 19 using the Pan-STARRS telescope, which is operated near the summit of Maui\u2019s Haleakala volcano by the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. The Hawaiian connection adds to the aptness of its name.<\/p>\n

The dim object was spotted as it traveled through the inner solar system, at a distance of about 19 million miles from Earth, but an analysis of its trajectory suggests that it came in from a place far beyond the solar system, somewhere in the constellation Lyra. It\u2019s now heading in the direction of the constellation Pegasus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most extreme orbit I have ever seen,\u201d Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA\u2019s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a NASA news release. \u201cIt is going extremely fast, and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n