Oumuamua's Artistic Vision
A new study indicates that the first interstellar asteroid, Oumuamua, most likely came from a binary star system. This is a scheme of two stars rotating around a common center. To test this theory, scientists decided to understand how effective dual systems are for ejecting objects. They also looked at how common such systems are in the Milky Way.
It turned out that rocky celestial bodies, like Oumuamua, are more likely to come from binary star systems than from single. We also managed to find out that the number of discarded rocky objects should be equated to ice.
Researchers are still surprised that the first object from a foreign system turned out to be an asteroid, because the comet is much easier to find. Moreover, the solar system ejects more comets than asteroids. The analysis also shows that Oumuamua should have come from a system with a relatively hot massive star, since under such conditions a large number of rocky objects are created. Scientists suggest that the asteroid was pushed out of a binary system during the formation of the planets. The object was first noticed on October 19, 2017 at the Hawaiian Observatory. With a radius of 200 m, he flew at a speed of 30 km / s. The closest approach to the Earth was 33000000 km.
At the first detection, everyone thought that we were facing a comet of the Solar System. But she did not show any cometary activity when approaching the Sun and moved into the category of asteroids. Later, the speed and trajectory indicated an “alien” origin. The fact is that the eccentricity of Oumuamua is 1.2, and this is the highest observed in our system. In fact, its speed was in no way connected with the gravity of our star.
Despite the information received, we continue to ask the main questions. Observation of such objects allows us to understand the principle of the formation of planets in other systems.
