Cigar-shaped interstellar object Oumuamua might be a hydrogen iceberg

New Delhi: The Cigar-shaped interstellar object ‘Oumuamua’ – has always sort of been a puzzle ever since it was discovered in 2017.

There have been massive discussion on whether it is an old comet or some sort of alien technology perhaps exploring the cosmos. In April this year, one research report had said that Oumuamua that is tumbling through our solar system may be wreckage from a planet ripped apart when it roamed too close to the faraway star it once orbited

However a recent study has found that the Oumuamua might actually be a hydrogen iceberg.

Researchers at Yale and the University of Chicago in a study have said that Oumuamua is a hydrogen iceberg. The study that appears on arXiv website is based on the inference that the weird properties of the Oumuamua could be explained “if it contained a significant fraction of molecular hydrogen (H2) ice.”

Scientists tracked the reddish-coloured ‘Oumuamua from October 14, 2017, until January 2, 2018, after which it became too faint to detect even using the most powerful telescopes. It is estimated to be a half-mile (800 meters) long, tumbling through space.

Oumuamua was first detected by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope. Its name in the native Hawaiian language means a messenger arriving from a great distance.

With Reuters Inputs