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We discuss thep ossible origins of such an object including the possibility that it might be a lightsail of artificial origin. Our general results apply to any light probes designed for interstellar travel.
This is all a bit too much like my current Stellaris playthrough, there will be a giant space worm bursting out of a tear in space time near to earth next.
Of course it was aliens, they are here, in hiding.
The main one looks a bit orange though....
Where did I leave my towel...
It was always very Rama like
I reckon they got close enough to check us out , saw the leader of the free world & decided LV426 was a safer bet
do not clean the telephone
including the possibility that it might be a lightsail of artificial origin.
When I read the original artical and saw that bit, I did a facepalm and eyeroll at the same time! Whoever the authors are, they don’t seem to grasp the fundamental principal of a light-sail, which is basically a vast sail made of incredibly thin material designed to utilise solar wind to haul a space-going vessel over vast distances using only light pressure for propulsion. The object that shot through our solar system was a sodding great spindle-shaped lump of rock! Nowhere was there any sign of gossamer-thin sails big enough to have its own postcode. That rock looks nothing like this concept for a light-sail like this:
From a skim read it sounded like any hypothetical sail would not have been detected at the distances the object was observed, or that the sail didn't survive the journey.
All they're really saying is they think an artificial sail is one scenario that fits the observed properties (and also citing multiple previous works by one of the authors about lightsails). Like every time a paper discusses the possibility of aliens, there's a bunch of other more likely possibilities that I expect have been explored in other papers.
Well yes, I just find it highly entertaining that someone at a top university gets to entertain the idea of aliens as their day job.
I'm actually quite jealous...
true story:
I didnt get a job at a xenobiology lab I went for last month
Im still sulking
I'm jealous that you even got to apply for that Kimbers…..
If I recall my 'Mote in God's Eye' correctly, the light sail used by the Moties was only for acceleration and was binned after they'd reached their maximum speed. So, they could have been aliens, we just couldn't catch them!
Whilst on the subject of exciting things in the sky, by the middle of next month we might just be getting treated to a nice view of a comet up near the Pleiades. 46P/Wirtanen should be easily visible on a clear dark night ride. I'm quite looking forward to that one!
Why would they attach a lightsail to a bloody big rock?
A heavysail would be too heavy? 🙂
If I recall my ‘Mote in God’s Eye’ correctly,
That takes me back - I read it about 20 years ago, but still find myself thinking "but on the third hand..."