Scientists have finally cracked the code on Oumuamua's secrets! You know, that mysterious interstellar object that had everyone scratching their heads? Well, turns out, they've been working overtime to unravel its mysteries, and they've finally got some answers. It's like a cosmic detective story that's been solved after years of sleuthing. So, get ready for some mind-blowing revelations about this enigmatic visitor from beyond our solar system. It's like the universe just threw us a curveball, and scientists are here to decode it for us. #brightside
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Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Listen to Bright Side on:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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FunTranscript
00:00In 2017, a strange object was spotted in our Solar System.
00:06It had the shape of a long tube, similar to a pancake.
00:10No known asteroid or comet we've seen looks like that.
00:13Its exterior was also peculiar.
00:16It was at least 10 times more reflective than the average stuff that flies through space,
00:20with some saying it had a surface similar to polished metal.
00:24When it went past the Sun and left our reach, it accelerated faster than what our gravity
00:29could account for.
00:31At first glance, it was like this thing had a rocket strapped to its back.
00:35This unusual visitor even got a special name – Amuamua.
00:39It comes from Hawaiian and translates to scout or visitor from a faraway land.
00:45And because of its characteristics, scientists soon began to wonder if this was, at last,
00:50a visit from otherworldly creatures.
00:55So they went full on with the science fiction suppositions.
00:59Astronomers gathered the information they were sure about.
01:02Starting with the fact that Amuamua must've come from another Solar System.
01:06There must've been some unfortunate event in its home system that led to its ejection.
01:11What they didn't know was that this was a comet or asteroid.
01:15They're both celestial objects orbiting the Sun, but they have distinct compositions
01:19and behaviors.
01:21Comets are composed primarily of ice, dust, and rocky material, often referred to as dirty
01:26snowballs.
01:27When a comet approaches the Sun, the heat causes the ice to vaporize, releasing gas
01:32and dust particles into space.
01:35This creates a bright glowing tail that can extend for millions of miles.
01:40Comets generally have elliptical orbits, often taking them from the distant reaches of our
01:44Solar System closer to the Sun.
01:49Comets, however, are mostly made of rock and metal.
01:52In our neighborhood, they are remnants of the early formation of the Solar System and
01:57are typically found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
02:01Unlike comets, asteroids do not develop tails when they approach the Sun, as they have no
02:06ice.
02:07Their orbits generally follow more circular paths compared to comets.
02:12By all accounts, Amuamua should be a comet, because it seems to come from a different
02:17location in the Universe.
02:20But it doesn't exhibit the typical signs of cometary activity.
02:24Amuamua lacks a tail and does not spew out gas as it passes by, not like me.
02:30Even though it behaves like a comet, it looks more like an asteroid.
02:36Another big question is how scientists even managed to spot Amuamua in the first place.
02:42Considering the vastness of space and time in the galaxy, it's remarkable.
02:46Stars have lifetimes spanning millions or billions of years.
02:50And the formation of a solar system takes hundreds of millions of years.
02:54Even the fastest objects take tens of thousands of years to travel from one star to another.
03:00In contrast, humans have only been observing the skies with telescopes for around 400 years,
03:06a tiny fraction of cosmic time.
03:09And it's only in recent decades, even years, that we've had the technology to detect
03:14and track fast-moving, dim objects.
03:17Either rocks like these are abundant, or we've been incredibly lucky with our detections.
03:22Or it simply wanted to be seen.
03:27Another question that was asked was where such objects could come from.
03:31It's highly unlikely that Amuamua came from a mature, stable solar system.
03:36That's because such systems don't eject enough material to fill up the galaxy.
03:41Occasionally, a random rock might get flung out, but it can rarely travel so far.
03:47Young systems, however, act differently.
03:50In these chaotic environments, collisions, mergers, and migrations are happening everywhere.
03:56Plenty of tiny rocks roam around, perfect candidates for ejection.
04:00The solar system that kicked Amuamua out must've had a planet similar to Jupiter.
04:06Its massive size and gravity could influence other objects in the system, causing potentially
04:11ejections.
04:12But not all solar systems develop Jupiter-sized planets.
04:16Often massive planets end up close to their stars, becoming hotter versions of Jupiter.
04:22These planets, snugly orbiting the Sun, are less likely to eject debris.
04:27Now Neptune-like planets may play a role too.
04:30While not as massive as Jupiter, they tend to call the outer regions of solar systems
04:34their home.
04:36Our solar system has the Kuiper Belt, a reservoir of comets in its outer reaches.
04:41During a solar system's early stages, interactions between Neptune-like planets and debris are
04:46common.
04:47Finding Neptune-like planets in other systems has been challenging though.
04:52Our methods for detecting exoplanets work better for massive objects close to their
04:56stars, making it difficult to spot Neptune counterparts farther out.
05:04Amuamua was also linked to a peculiar theory about how life came to be in the universe
05:09– panspermia.
05:12That's a hypothesis that suggests that life exists throughout the universe and can be
05:16distributed between planets by various means, such as asteroids, comets, or even spacecraft.
05:23It says that life must have originated in one location in the universe and then spread
05:28to other celestial bodies.
05:30Fans of the panspermia theory have suggested that such interstellar objects could potentially
05:35carry tiny microbes – those building blocks of life between star systems.
05:41If such objects were to impact a planet or a moon, they could transfer these materials
05:46and seed the celestial body with life.
05:49For now, there is no evidence to support the theory that this comet in particular has transported
05:54life between star systems.
05:59After years of research, the overall consensus became that Amuamua was indeed a comet.
06:05The reason why it moved so strangely is because it might have frozen hydrogen on its surface
06:10that reacts when touched by sunlight.
06:13The closer it got to our Sun, the faster it became, releasing that hydrogen and also changing
06:18its path through our solar system.
06:21Its color also supports this theory – it's red, which might mean it's been hit by cosmic
06:26rays for a long time.
06:28The longer it was touched by those rays, the more hydrogen it gathered in the process.
06:33But since they can't be completely sure, astronomers have a plan to follow this visitor.
06:39One idea is to send a mission to check it out.
06:42It's already far away from us, but it may not be too late just yet.
06:47We may be able to send a probe fast enough to catch up with the comet.
06:51The plan was named Project Lyra, and aims to use the Earth's orbit and that of Jupiter
06:56to bounce out a probe far enough to reach Amuamua.
07:00If it works, it will be the fastest space device we've sent out in the Universe.
07:05One potential trajectory of the space probe involves the gravitational pull of our planet
07:10and that of Jupiter as a lasso effect, but not Ted Lasso.
07:15The probe will leave our planet and reenter Earth's orbit before sending it to meet
07:19with Jupiter's pull.
07:20It will be sent back near our planet a second time, where it will be ejected with enough
07:25force to reach the comet.
07:30Project Lyra also aims to follow a second faraway visitor, named Borisov.
07:35This one was discovered by an amateur astronomer and now bears his name.
07:39What's interesting about it is that it's, well, spotless.
07:44Similar to our experience with Amuamua, we haven't seen anything like Borisov before
07:48either.
07:50Studies of the light coming from its cloud of dust and gas show it's very clean compared
07:54to other space objects.
07:56After it was first noticed in August 2019, astronomers studied its path through our solar
08:02system and concluded it came from another star too.
08:06But Borisov gave us more time to study it because we spotted it earlier in its journey
08:10through our neighborhood.
08:13Researchers used advanced telescopes to look at the dust coming off Borisov.
08:17They found it's throwing off over 400 pounds of dust every second.
08:22They also found Borisov has more carbon monoxide than comets from our solar system usually
08:27do.
08:28But the amount isn't the same everywhere on the comet.
08:31This tells us the space object probably started forming near its home star before moving away,
08:37maybe because of larger planets in its system.
08:40The light from Borisov is way more polarized than light from other comets we've seen,
08:45and its cloud is super smooth.
08:47This tells us Borisov has never interacted with another star.
08:57That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
09:01and share it with your friends.
09:03Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!