'Oumuamua' - Could be a 'remnant' of alien technology.

                             

                          (Image from Wikipedia.  An artist's depiction of a Light or Solar Sail)

I have discussed the interstellar object known as Oumuamua (Hawaiian for 'scout') on my previous blog, links can be found here.  Neither seen as a comet or asteroid due to its speed and unusual trajectory, with a current hypothesis that it could be a type of asteroid/comet hybrid with an ice core.  Interestingly, all studies to date in determining if Oumuamua is either a comet or asteroid have come up short. With the lurking (underling) desire for it to be an alien probe or artifact have resurfaced within the latest scientific study of Oumuamua.  Which is pretty cool, as the questions remain of its origins and machinations .  If Oumuamua is neither a comet or asteroid.   What is Oumuamua?

Could it be the remnants of an alien probe?

From phys.org:

"...there has also been some speculation that based on its shape, 'Oumuamua might actually be an interstellar spacecraft (Breakthrough Listen even monitored it for signs of radio signals!). A new study by a pair of astronomers from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has taken it a step further, suggesting that 'Oumuamua may actually be a light sail of extra-terrestrial origin. The study – "Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain "Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?," which recently appeared online – was conducted by Shmuel Bialy and Prof. Abraham Loeb. Whereas Bialy is a postdoctoral researcher at the CfA's Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC), Prof. Loeb is the director of the ITC, the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, and the head chair of the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee..."

A possible alien (broken?) Light Sail.

"...To this, Bialy and Loeb offer a counter-explanation. If 'Oumuamua were in fact a comet, why then did it not experience outgassing when it was closest to our sun? In addition, they cite other research that showed that if outgassing were responsible for the acceleration, it would have also caused a rapid evolution in 'Oumuamua's spin (which was not observed). 

Basically, Bialy and Loeb consider the possibility that 'Oumuamua could in fact be a light sail, a form of spacecraft that relies on radiation pressure to generate propulsion – similar to what Breakthrough Starshot is working on. Similar to what is planned for Starshot, this light sail may been sent from another civilization to study our solar system and look for signs of life. As Prof. Loeb explained to Universe Today via email: 

"We explain the excess acceleration of `Oumuamua away from the sun as the result of the force that the sunlight exerts on its surface. For this force to explain measured excess acceleration, the object needs to be extremely thin, of order a fraction of a millimeter in thickness but tens of meters in size. This makes the object lightweight for its surface area and allows it to act as a light-sail. Its origin could be either natural (in the interstellar medium or proto-planetary disks) or artificial (as a probe sent for a reconnaissance mission into the inner region of the solar system)..."

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These findings in relation to this strange object were used, fictionally, in my story The Universe, Sex and its attribution of Parallel Worlds, from THE PRAXIS CONTINUUM.  However, my grumpy (of the same story) Professor Dan Koso reveals his annoyance at headline grabbing 'science' reports and rushed physics papers.