{"id":3331,"date":"2018-11-14T11:57:45","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T18:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/astronomy-and-planetary-science\/?p=3331"},"modified":"2020-12-01T12:32:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T19:32:22","slug":"nasa-telescopes-non-detection-of-first-interstellar-object-in-solar-system-leads-nau-team-to-conclusions-about-mystery-objects-size-reflectivity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/nasa-telescopes-non-detection-of-first-interstellar-object-in-solar-system-leads-nau-team-to-conclusions-about-mystery-objects-size-reflectivity-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA telescope\u2019s \u2018non-detection\u2019 of first interstellar object in solar system leads NAU team to conclusions about mystery object\u2019s size, reflectivity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"David<\/p>\n

\n

Nov. 14, 2018<\/p>\n

In November 2017, a team of scientists pointed NASA\u2019s Spitzer Space Telescope<\/a> toward a comet-like object known as \u2019Oumuamua\u2014the first interstellar body ever found in our solar system\u2014but the object proved too faint for the infrared telescope to detect.<\/p>\n

Though initially disappointing, this non-detection of \u2019Oumuamua eventually provided new information about the cosmic interloper, according to a new study published in the The Astronomical Journal<\/em><\/a> by Northern Arizona University professor of physics and astronomy David Trilling<\/strong>, postdoctoral scholar Andrew McNeill<\/strong>, Ph.D. student Alissa Roegge<\/strong>, senior research specialist Nathan Smith<\/strong> and a team of collaborators from several research centers, including the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u2019Oumuamua was first identified by astronomers at the University of Hawaii\u2019s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii\u2014who named the space rock after the Hawaiian word for \u201cscout\u201d\u2014in October 2017. Subsequent observations conducted by multiple ground-based telescopes and NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope detected sunlight reflected off \u2019Oumuamua\u2019s surface. Some interpretations of the data suggest that the space rock is very elongated, like a cigar.<\/p>\n

The non-detection helped the team determine the object\u2019s size. Because Spitzer tracks asteroids and comets using the infrared light they radiate, the telescope provides more specific information about an object\u2019s size than an instrument that tracks objects using reflected light. The fact that \u2019Oumuamua was too faint to register on Spitzer\u2019s detectors means the rock\u2019s dimensions must be less than 320 feet by 460 feet by 1440 feet (98 by 140 by 400 meters).<\/p>\n

The new study also suggests that \u2019Oumuamua may be up to 10 times more reflective than comets that reside in our solar system\u2014a surprising result, according to the paper\u2019s authors. Because infrared light is often heat radiation produced by \u201cwarm\u201d objects, it can be used to determine the temperature of a comet or asteroid; this can, in turn, be used to determine the reflectivity of the rock\u2019s surface\u2014what scientists call albedo. Just as a dark T-shirt absorbs more sunlight than a light one, a rock with low reflectivity absorbs more sunlight than a rock with high reflectivity. So a lower temperature means a higher albedo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne plausible explanation is that \u2019Oumuamua was a dormant comet nucleus reactivated, after millions of years in interstellar space, by heating during its orbit near the Sun,\u201d Trilling, who is the lead author on the study, said. \u201cThis reactivation either destroyed the thin dark mantle expected to be created by cosmic rays and galactic ultraviolet radiation and\/or coated the surface with an optically thick layer of new, fresh ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2019Oumuamua is now on its way out of our solar system and beyond the reach of current telescopes, however, so scientists will never know for sure how large it is, what it looks like or how reflective it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, if we get a measurement from a comet that\u2019s kind of weird, we go back and measure it again until we understand what we\u2019re seeing,\u201d Trilling said. \u201cBut this one is gone forever; we know as much about it as we\u2019re ever going to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does \u2019Oumuamua look like? Print your own 3D model of the interstellar object\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Colin Chandler<\/strong>, graduate student in NAU\u2019s PhD program in Astronomy and Planetary Science<\/a>, created a three-dimensional model of what \u2019Oumuamua might look like. Download the file<\/a> to print your own miniature version of this interstellar object on any 3D printer, such as the printers at Cline Library\u2019s MakerLab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NAU<\/a>Kerry Bennett | Office of the Vice President for Research
\n(928) 523-5556 | kerry.bennett@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: NASA telescope\u2019s \u2018non-detection\u2019 of first interstellar object in solar system leads NAU team to conclusions about mystery object\u2019s size, reflectivity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov. 14, 2018 In November 2017, a team of scientists pointed NASA\u2019s Spitzer Space Telescope toward a comet-like object known as \u2019Oumuamua\u2014the first interstellar body ever found in our solar system\u2014but the object proved too faint for the infrared telescope to detect. Though initially disappointing, this non-detection of \u2019Oumuamua eventually provided new information about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-astronomy-and-planetary-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3866,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331\/revisions\/3866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/department-astronomy-planetary-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}