Interstellar Interlopers, Coming in from the great beyond |
Interstellar Interlopers, Coming in from the great beyond |
Oct 27 2017, 01:40 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 541 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
They finally found a chunk of something coming into the Solar System. Something much bigger than cosmic rays or dust particles.
Asteroid/comet in hyperbolic trajectory |
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Nov 24 2017, 07:21 PM
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#32
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
I haven't seen error bars for any of these measurements, but they have to be getting larger by the hour as the object recedes. It's important to note that what we're likely seeing in the press are best-guess median numbers instead of what is really known, which would be a set of constrained ranges plus or minus for each dimension, and the resolution range given this thing's small size and large distance is likely at best several tens of meters...and decreasing. To my knowledge there haven't been any truly high-precision measurements to date such as stellar occultation observations.
In the end, all we can really say that we know with high confidence is the rotation period, that it's probably markedly non-spherical (although large surface albedo variations are not ruled out and may therefore modulate how far out of round it is), and that it has spectral attributes that resemble those of some groups of asteroids. And, of course, that it's of extrasolar origin. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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