The dark, red object absorbs 96 percent of the light that falls on its surface.
We have telescopic eyes across earth looking at the infinite space skimming through our solar system, each time gazing more thoroughly for something new that can excite the scientific community.
Astronomers looking through the Pan-STARRS telescope found an object that was so dark that it looked totally alien to our solar system, thus attracting their curiosity. Now it has been confirmed that the heavy dark matter that is zooming past the sun intermittently is extraterrestrial.
The dark and red object, which has been found absorbing 96 percent of the light that falls on its surface, has been named 1I/2017 U1(‘Oumuamua). Astronomers assume that it could be one of the thousands of such alien objects lurking in our galaxy.
The scientists have come to this conclusion after following the orbit trail of the object, which, according to them, is something that cannot be achieved from within our solar system.
‘Oumuamua is a Hawaiian term that signifies a messenger or scout and the object has been rightly named as it is the first of its kind ever found since scientists started the search for what lies beyond the reaches of our planet.
Studying of this newly found piece of exoplanetary evidence could assist the scientific community to understand planet formation as this could be a piece of asteroid coalesce that could tell us about the formation of planets around parent star.
Analysis of ‘Oumuamua through a ground-based telescope has thrown light into the composition of comets and asteroids in our solar system and those galaxies that are out in the space. Scientists have found that the comets and asteroids could be typical across the galaxy.
The red color of the object identifies the presence of organic molecules, which are the biological elements that allow life to thrive.
It has to be considered that life was made possible on earth as a result of violent asteroid and comet collisions and ’Oumuamua could also hold evidence of such violent intergalactic activities.
’Oumuamua is currently being studied by two independent research groups led by Karen Meech, University of Hawaii and David Jewitt, University of California Los Angeles.
Meech through European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope found that ’Oumuamua was extremely elongated and roughly 400 meters long. They also found that it rotated once every 7.3 hours.
Jewitt and his research group have calculated that another 10,000 such gigantic objects could be orbiting near to the sun but they still go undetected to the eyes of manmade telescopes.
The interstellar objects are hard to be detected as they travel so fast due to the close proximity to the sun’s gravitational pull but it makes intermittent entry and exits from our solar system. It is estimated that the object could be making 1,000 entries and exits every year, which means three entry exits every day.