The mysterious Oumuamua continues to reveal findings that keep the scientific debate
A new theory developed from digital simulations explains the possible origin and formation of the mysterious interstellar object Oumuamua, discovered in 2017, publishes the magazine “Nature Astronomy”.
Yun Zhang of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Douglas N.C Lin of the University of California in the United States used computer simulations to demonstrate “How objects like the Oumuamua can be formed under the influence of tidal forces such as those that affect Earth’s oceans.”
Lin explains that they were able to prove that objects similar to the Oumuamua -the first known interstellar object that has entered our solar system- “They can form due to extensive tidal fragmentation during encounters of their parent bodies with their host stars, and then be expelled into interstellar space”.
Zhang points out that the Oumuamua (Hawaiian word meaning “A messenger from afar who arrives first”) is unlike any other body in the solar system and has a dry surface, elongated shape and peculiar movement.
These characteristics distinguish it from comets, for example, and make it similar to rocky bodies such as asteroids in the solar system, scientists say., which they consider to be probable that there is a large population of interstellar objects still unknown.
Zhang and Lin performed various simulations of high resolution to recreate “The structural dynamics of an object flying near a star”.
They found that if the object is close enough, the star can break it into elongated fragments that are then ejected into interstellar space, the magazine explains.
Zhang believes that this theory explains not only how a single Oumuamua could have been produced, but also the possible formation of a whole population of asteroid-like interstellar objects.
Oumuamua and the scientific debate on its origin
The huge rock in the shape of a cigar or compared to a cucumber was discovered on October 19, 2017 thanks to the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at the University of Hawaii, United States.
The origin of the mysterious object that came from another planetary system has kept the scientific debate, since there are studies that describe it as a comet, asteroid and even there is an investigation who warns that it is an alien spacecraft.
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