First Interstellar Asteroid Spotted

[boogabooga]

Oh geez, it looks weird:

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/Oumuamua/

It looks like... it looks like...a monolith!

:uhh:

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Very interesting... How did it get to be that shape? :huh:

 

[Notebook]

BBC article as boogabooga above.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42053634

 

[streb2001]

It is about the same shape as Rama...

 

[Notebook]

Wouldn't it be fun if it had a look at the Solar System, and decided the next one was better?
Bet I can get to the next one before the fuel runs out....

N.

 

[Andy44]

Wouldn't it be fun if it had a look at the Solar System, and decided the next one was better?
Bet I can get to the next one before the fuel runs out....

N.

Rama was using Sol for a slingshot gravity assist in the novel.

The fact that this thing is "highly elongated" and not the usual semi-spherical or potato-shaped object makes it weird. I wonder how many heliocentric asteroids or other bodies match this description.

 

[Urwumpe]

400 m long, metallic, no ice, not surrounded by dust.

This one is REALLY strange. I wonder what it will do on perihelion.

EDIT: Ah, no, already passed perihelion in September without solar orbit insertion.

 

[jedidia]

This one is REALLY strange.

Well, we don't have that many exo-comets for comparison, so who's to say what's strange?

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, we don't have that many exo-comets for comparison, so who's to say what's strange?

Well, on a scale of strange objects, the most similar object with such properties is the NEO J002E3.

 

[Unstung]

Rama confirmed.

And the first comment beat me to that reference. Great timing.

 

[Andy44]

has an eccentricity of 1,188

Wait, is that "one thousand, one hundred eighty-eight", or "one point one eight eight"?

 

[boogabooga]

Wait, is that "one thousand, one hundred eighty-eight", or "one point one eight eight"?

That's how they do it in most of the world. The U.S. is weird in many ways.

 

[Topper]

"one point one eight eight"

No, it's one comma one eight eight ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark

 

[Andy44]

That's how they do it in most of the world. The U.S. is weird in many ways.

Yeah, I figured.

And this is one of the things the US does correct, IMO. A decimal point should be a decimal point not a decimal comma! :tiphat:

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, I figured.

And this is one of the things the US does correct, IMO. A decimal point should be a decimal point not a decimal comma! :tiphat:

Which is a hen and egg problem. What was first point or decimal point?

 

[jedidia]

And this is one of the things the US does correct, IMO. A decimal point should be a decimal point not a decimal comma!

And it never occured to you that in other languages it might not be called a point, but a comma? :lol:

 

[Topper]

The . is that it's not the . if it's a , or a .. :lol:

 

[Andy44]

Which is a hen and egg problem. What was first point or decimal point?

All the answers lie aboard the object passing through our solar system, and sadly we cannot catch up to it...

 

[Artlav]

A decimal point should be a decimal point not a decimal comma! :tiphat:

Huh.
TIL that there are countries that use comma as a decimal point.
That does sound like the kind of crime against common sense that is typical to USA, however.

 

[Urwumpe]

All the answers lie aboard the object passing through our solar system, and sadly we cannot catch up to it...

We could... well, in theory. In reality, solving the political issues will take so much time that the asteroid will be in another star system already.