Miloch
December 11th 17, 10:56 PM
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/260272-astronomers-will-scan-interstellar-mystery-object-make-sure-not-spaceship
...."We know that ‘Oumuamua is from another solar system because it has an
orbital eccentricity of 1.20, meaning it’s well past the sun’s escape velocity.
Nothing that originated in our solar system could have reached such a high
speed, so ‘Oumuamua comes from someplace else. It’s currently on its way out of
the solar system at 38.3 kilometers per second (23.8 miles per second). We can’t
catch up to it, but the Breakthrough Listen project can still take a closer
look.
"Milner says Breakthrough Listen will begin using the Green Bank Telescope to
scan ‘Oumuamua this week. The telescope will observe the asteroid for 10 hours
across four radio bands. If it’s emitting any radio frequency energy,
Breakthrough Listen should be able to pick it up. This might be our last chance
to learn something about ‘Oumuamua before it’s too far away to study. Next year,
it will pass the orbit of Jupiter, and by the mid-2020s, it will pass into the
Kuiper Belt.
"Odds are that Breakthrough Listen will detect nothing from the object. After
all, it’s probably been falling through interstellar space for millions of
years, and that’d have to one durable alien spaceship to still be working.
Still, if there’s some signal emanating from ‘Oumuamua, that’s probably
something we should know about.
*
...."We know that ‘Oumuamua is from another solar system because it has an
orbital eccentricity of 1.20, meaning it’s well past the sun’s escape velocity.
Nothing that originated in our solar system could have reached such a high
speed, so ‘Oumuamua comes from someplace else. It’s currently on its way out of
the solar system at 38.3 kilometers per second (23.8 miles per second). We can’t
catch up to it, but the Breakthrough Listen project can still take a closer
look.
"Milner says Breakthrough Listen will begin using the Green Bank Telescope to
scan ‘Oumuamua this week. The telescope will observe the asteroid for 10 hours
across four radio bands. If it’s emitting any radio frequency energy,
Breakthrough Listen should be able to pick it up. This might be our last chance
to learn something about ‘Oumuamua before it’s too far away to study. Next year,
it will pass the orbit of Jupiter, and by the mid-2020s, it will pass into the
Kuiper Belt.
"Odds are that Breakthrough Listen will detect nothing from the object. After
all, it’s probably been falling through interstellar space for millions of
years, and that’d have to one durable alien spaceship to still be working.
Still, if there’s some signal emanating from ‘Oumuamua, that’s probably
something we should know about.
*