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1st Known Interstellar Visitor Gets Weirder: 'Oumuamua Likely Had 2 Stars
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | March 19, 2018 06:12pm ET
Our solar system's first known interstellar visitor is likely even more alien than previously imagined, a new study suggests.
The mysterious, needle-shaped object 'Oumuamua, which was spotted zooming through Earth's neighborhood last October, probably originated in a two-star system, according to the study.
'Oumuamua means "scout" in Hawaiian; the object was discovered by researchers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui. ['Oumuamua: The 1st Interstellar Visitor in Photos]
Astronomers could tell that the 1,300-foot-long (400 meters) 'Oumuamua wasn't from around here based on its hyperbolic orbit, which showed that the object wasn't gravitationally bound to the sun. Initially, scientists thought the body was probably a comet. But 'Oumuamua displayed no cometary activity — no long tail, no cloud-like "coma" around its core — even after getting relatively close to the sun, so it was soon reclassified as an asteroid.
More:
https://www.space.com/40020-oumuamua-interstellar-object-binary-star.html?utm_source=sdc-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180320-sdc