imagine a celestial object unlike anything we've ever seen hurling through the vast void of space at three times the speed of the average comet in the solar system this is not a figment of Science Fiction but a mysterious visitor entering our solar system in 2017 this mysterious object is unique in that it's the first Interstellar object ever discovered in our solar system in honor of which which it was named UA mua in Hawaiian meaning a messenger from afar who arrived first in a short time it's baffled astronomers and spawn theories ranging from it's just an
asteroid to alien spacecraft flying through our Cosmic neighborhood UA mua was 15 million miles from Earth about 62 times the distance from Earth to the Moon but what baffled scientists was its speed as it revolved around the Sun its rate increased which contradicts the laws of celestial mechanics could it be propelled by some unknown form of cosmic radiation or is it a comet emitting gases in a way we've never observed before in a universe governed by law and equation a mua mua is an unsolved equation a cosmic Enigma in the shape of a rock about
650 ft [Music] long on October 19th 2017 in the quiet of space far from the bustling activity of our Blue Planet a telescope in Hawaii picked up a faint flicker this was no ordinary Celestial body it was omua mua the first known Interstellar object to visit our solar system the panars one telescope perched at top the dormant hakala volcano captured something unusual the very name UA mua in which Hawaiian means a messenger from afar arriving first reflects the significance of this discovery unlike asteroids and comets born under the gravity of our son am muamua was
a Wanderer from deep in interstellar space its trajectory indicat that it was not bound by the Sun's gravity making it a transient visitor to our system what sets UA mua apart is not only its origin but also its special characteristics its elongated cigar shape its rapid rotation they don't fit the Norms of typical objects in the solar system the scientific Community is buzzing with theories and debates about the nature of UA mua is it a comet without a tail as destroyed with a unusual rotation or something completely different these questions have sparked rigorous scientific research
that's led to a variety of hypothesis from it being a fragment of a larger Celestial body to even more speculative ideas such as it being an Alien Probe the discovery of UA mua is a milestone in astronomy similar to when people first look through a telescope and realize that the Earth is not not the center of the universe it sheds light on the formation of the solar system and reminds us that our solar system is only a tiny part of a vast unexplored Frontier as UA mua moves farther away becoming a faint Speck in the
cosmic sea the need to study it grows hopefully in the future more advanced telescopes will capture more information about these Interstellar Messengers offering new clues about the the composition and history of the universe the mystery of UA mua's true nature has puzzled astronomers since its Discovery originally classified as a comet it had none of the typical cometary features such as a luminous coma or tail it was for this reason that it was reclassified as an asteroid due to its lack of a visible coma however it is not just any asteroid it is an elongated it's
cigar-shaped object unlike any asteroid we've seen before its unique shape has led to various speculations including the possibility that it's an alien spacecraft scientific papers describe the physical characteristics of UA mua in more detail they mention the object is tumbling rather than spinning which is unusual for both asteroids and comets this tumbling motion could be the result of a collision with another planet but this state is purely speculative at this point the trajectory of UA mua presents another Intrigue it entered our solar system at an unusually high speed and traveled on a hyperbolic trajectory which
in turn means it will never return most objects captured by a star's gravity go into an elliptical orbit but not U mua according to the scientist's Assumption its trajectory was influenced by non-gravitational forces which can be explained by the releasee of materials due to Rapid vaporization again however no such gas releases were visually observed which further adds to the mystery the lack of a visible coma in the object's high speed have led to various theories some scientists suggesting it could be a fragment of a larger object that crashed others believe it could be a new
class of object rather than a comet or an asteroid some some even discuss the possibility that UA mua is a solar sail driven by radiation pressure it's also believe that the object's highp speed could make it a messenger from another star system perhaps ejected by a planetary system forming around a young star this could make omua mua one of the first observed Interstellar objects A Relic from another part of the Galaxy the story of UA mua is a space detective story where each clue only deepens the mystery its elongated shape is unlike anything we've seen
in the solar system could this unique form factor offer benefits for Interstellar travel such as reduce drag or increase stability or is it the result of some catastrophic event that we cannot yet fathom it's trajectory adds another layer to the mystery the absence of a visible coma and tail rules out the the possibility that outgassing influenced its path so what non-gravitational forces are at work here could it be affected by dark matter or some other unknown Cosmic phenomenon the theory surrounding uua range from the plausible to the Fantastic could UA mua be a Harbinger a
messenger from another star system the possibility that it's a solar sail is particularly intriguing and if proven it could revolutionize our understanding of space travel opening up the possibility of radiation propelled voyages between Stars so when it comes to investigating celestial objects like UA mua astronomers rely on a variety of tools the investigation into the nature of UA mua was led by a team of researchers that included Jennifer bergner a chemist at the University of California Berkeley bergner and her colleague Daryl saligman an astronomer at Cornell University were at the Forefront of unraveling the object's
Mysteries their work published in the journal Nature is considered the most convincing model of om mua mua and that's according to Marco melli an astronomer at the European Space Agency the team's observations were supported by NASA's Hubble and Spitzer telescopes which found that UA mua had a strangely elongated cigar-like shape and accelerated slightly as it left the solar system uh this acceleration is commonly seen in comets when they're repelled by the material they emit however omua mua showed no such ejection or any visible coma of dust and gas which we would expect of a comet
the team used modeling to show that omua mua could have originated as a normal waterr Comet orbiting a nearby star before being ejected outside the system high energy cosmic rays could have converted up to 30% of the comet's water ice into hydrogen which could have been trapped in omua mua's ice as it traveled through Interstellar space as it approached the Sun the trapped hydrogen should have been released giving the object the increase in velocity according to saligman the team's Theory explains every strange aspect of amua muua it suggests that amua muua was indeed a comet
albeit an unusual one the lack of a visible coma or tail can be explained by the fact that molecular hydrogen is much less massive than the materials ejected by typical comets and therefore does not entrain much dust while bergner and seligman's theories convincing it's worth noting that not everyone in the scientific Community is convinced Karen meech an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at monoa still believes that the conventional model of a comet could have occurred she suggests that UA mua could simply have a small amount of dust which would also explain the lack of
a visible coma or tail another theory the idea that UA mua could be an Alien Probe has captured the Public's imagination it's elongated cigar shape and unusual trajectory led to speculation that it could be an artificial object this Theory gained traction when Obi lobe an astrophysicist at Harvard suggested that UA mua could be a thin flat almost rectangular piece of material that could be a probe sent by an advanced civilization Lo's theory was widely reported in the media fueling speculation although the Alien Probe Theory made headlines it's not stood up to Scientific criticism first if
om mua mua was a probe it would likely have a emitted some form of radiation or signals that have not been detected secondly its tumbling motion is not consistent with what one would expect from a probe designed to move steadily or collect data moreover the object's trajectory can be explained by natural phenomena as discussed in the previous chapter the theory proposed by Jennifer bergner and Daryl slman which suggest that UA mua is a hydrogen Rich Comet explain explains its unique characteristics and does not require extraterrestrial intervention the idea that omu amua could be an Alien
Probe reflects our Collective fascination with the unknown and the possibility of intelligent life beyond Earth however it also serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of rigorous scientific research speculative theories while interesting can divert attention away from a more plausible explanation although amua mua's unique characteristics have puzzled astronomers the most plausible explanation is that it is an exotic type of Comet or asteroid its long journey through Interstellar space probably altered its composition forming a crust that held most of the Frozen gas inside this Theory explains the unique characteristics and is supported by observations by
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope SC the discovery of UA mua has important implications for our understanding of interstellar objects it suggests that trillions of such objects may be passing through our solar system and we've only just begun to detect them the large synoptic survey telescope in Chile is expected to receive its first engineering camera light in December 2023 full-fledged survey operations are scheduled to begin in October 2024 due to schedule delays associated with covid-19 Once operational lsst will potentially be able to detect more objects such as UA mua it is planned that lsst data will be
fully publicly available in 2 years opening up new possibilities for understanding these enigmatic Interstellar visitors Beyond telescopes advances in propulsion technology and data analysis may allow us to ENT intercept and study these objects more closely imagine a future where we could send a probe to rendevu with an Interstellar object collect samples and send back data in real time construction of the European Comet Interceptor mission was recently approved the European Comet Interceptor Mission represents a significant leap in our ability to study innerstellar objects like UA mua unlike previous missions that were designed to study objects inside
our solar system the comet Interceptor is specifically designed to collect data on objects from outside it the mission is led by Esa with support from the Japanese space agency Jaa The Project aims to scrutinize a comet that has spent little time in the inner solar system and may be visiting for the first time the mission will build on the successes of Rosetta and giato previous Esa missions that visited short period comets the spacecraft will consist of a main unit and two probes designed to observe the comet from different angles and create a three-dimensional profile of
its yet to be discovered Target the mission is expected to be launched in 2029 and we'll travel to space with esa's aerial exoplanet Mission Once In Space the comet Interceptor will wait for a suitable Target at the point of the L2 lran a location 1.5 million kilm behind earth when viewed from the Sun waiting for the next Interstellar objects to pass right through our solar system once such an object is detected the spacecraft will adjust its trajectory to make a close flyby capturing highresolution images and collecting data on its composition structure and even origin the
discovery of UA mua opened a new chapter in astronomy how common are such hydrogen-rich in the universe could there be other Interstellar objects with a different composition and behavior and most importantly how can we prepare to better study these objects in the future this has served as a harbinger of future discoveries encouraging us to prepare for new Interstellar visitors that may be just as mysterious if not more so
