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<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reconnected with the Voyager 2 space probe after losing it.</li><li>The space agency lost contact on July 21 after accidentally sending a wrong command.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-update-voyager-2-communications-pause" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA</a> announced on Friday that it had reestablished communication with the Voyager 2 space probe after a long-shot strategy paid off.</p><p>The agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent an interstellar "shout" more than 12.3 billion miles which got the probe's attention after an error by NASA officials rendered the probe temporarily unreachable.</p><p>NASA lost contact with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pictures-45-year-journey-neptune-uranus-saturn-earth-2022-6">Voyager 2</a> on July 21 after it erroneously sent a series of commands that caused its antenna to point two degrees away from Earth.</p><p>That left it "unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth," severing it from the ground antennae of NASA's Deep Space Network, a global system that NASA uses to communicate with space probes.</p><p>Hope re-emerged on Tuesday, when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-loses-contact-voyager-2-sent-wrong-command-mistake-space-2023-8">NASA said</a> it had detected a faint signal from Voyager.</p><p>The agency then used a facility in Canberra, Australia, to blast a "shout" across the cosmos to get Voyager to point its antennae back to Earth and resume ordinary communication.</p><p>According to the agency, it took the signal 18.5 hours for commands to reach Voyager 2 through the vastness of space. The outward and return journeys together took 37 hours, leaving the scientists in limbo waiting to hear whether the ploy worked.</p><p>Suzanne Dodd, the project manager for Voyager 2, said that that time "was pretty nervewracking. You don't sleep well," per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/science/nasa-voyager-2-contact.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The operation only had a small chance of success, a spokeswoman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory told The Times. But it nevertheless appeared to be a success, as NASA said that the probe finally began sending back data on August 4 at 12:29 a.m., and that all seemed to return to normal.</p><p>"After two weeks of not hearing anything, we're back to getting unique data from the interstellar medium," said Linda Spilker, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the lead mission scientist for Voyager 2.</p><p>The probe does not appear to have been affected by the incident, with Dodd saying that an assessment showed that it looked "very healthy, very normal," per The Times.</p><p>The Voyager 2 probe is part of NASA's longest-running mission, and it has traveled through space for almost half a century, capturing some of the most <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pictures-45-year-journey-neptune-uranus-saturn-earth-2022-6" rel="">iconic pictures</a> of the solar system.</p>

NASA used an interstellar 'shout' to reconnect with Voyager 2 probe after losing it in a technical screw-up

<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-is-leaving-the-solar-system-2012-6"></a></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword> is shutting down the systems of the <keyword id="14253622" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="voyager" source="Orion">Voyager</keyword> probes this year, Scientific American reported. </li><li>The probes are flagging after 45 years — the move is a way of keeping them going up until 2030.</li></ul><p>The epic interstellar journeys of NASA's acclaimed Voyager probes are due to come to an end as the agency starts switching off their systems, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/record-breaking-voyager-spacecraft-begin-to-power-down/">Scientific American reported</a>.</p><p>The probes launched 45 years ago, in 1977, and have pushed the boundaries of <keyword id="11895441" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> exploration ever since. They are further away from Earth than any other manmade object, a record that will likely stay unbroken for decades.</p><p>The decision to reduce power on the probes is meant to extend their lifespan a few more years, taking them to around 2030, per Scientific American.</p><p>"We've done 10 times the warranty on the darn things," Ralph McNutt, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told the outlet, referring to the initial projections that their mission would last four years.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3#the-voyager-probes-15">probes are powered by radioactive plutonium</a>, which has kept the tiny on-board computers running for decades on end.</p><p>The energy in the system is decreasing by about 4 watts a year, per Scientific American, requiring energy use to be cut.</p><p>"If everything goes really well, maybe we can get the missions extended into the 2030s. It just depends on the power. That's the limiting point," said Spilker.</p><div type="image" title="Saturn's rings are shown in false color in a picture taken by a Voyager probe in 1981." height="480" width="640" msid="92364417" hostid="261" sizebytes="39206"></div><p>The probes' primary purpose was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-voyager-space-probe-left-earth-40-years-ago-today-heres-what-its-found-so-far-2017-8">to fly by Jupiter and Saturn</a>, a mission that they soon fulfilled. Then they just kept going, sending back images of our solar system and beaming home readings from deep space.</p><p>In 1990, <keyword id="13980006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="voyager-1" source="Orion">Voyager 1</keyword> took <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pale-blue-dot-photo-30th-anniversary-2020-2">the iconic "pale blue dot" composite </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pale-blue-dot-photo-30th-anniversary-2020-2">picture, a view of Earth taken 3.7 billion miles away from our sun.</a></p><div type="image" title="Pale Blue Dot_update" height="3922" width="5230" msid="92364421" hostid="261" sizebytes="103618"></div><p>More striking pictures taken by the probes are seen in the video below.</p><p>In 1998, Voyager 1 became the <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=2">farthest human-made object in space — 6.5 billion miles from Earth</a>.</p><p>The probes are now 12 and 14.5 billion miles away from Earth and counting, <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/">according to a live tracker from NASA. </a></p><p>That is beyond what is generally considered to be the limits of our solar system. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-is-leaving-the-solar-system-2012-6">Voyager 1 reached "interstellar space" in 2012</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-2-enters-interstellar-space-2018-12">Voyager 2 in 2018,</a> the first human objects to do so in history. </p><p>The instrument's hard-wired electronics have survived the test of time remarkably well, in spite of its age.</p><p>The primitive computers onboard the probes don't require much power. All of the data collected by the instruments on Voyager is stored on <a href="https://hackaday.com/2018/11/29/interstellar-8-track-the-low-tech-data-recorders-of-voyager/">an eight-track tape recorded</a> and sent to earth using a machine that uses up about as much power as a refrigerator light bulb, per Scientific American. </p><p>They have "less memory than the key fob that opens your car door," Linda Spilker, a planetary scientist from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Scientific American.</p><div type="image" title="a picture shows the eight-track machine on which data is stored in Voyager." height="1500" width="2000" msid="92364422" hostid="261" sizebytes="58534"></div><p>As energy onboard is dwindling, NASA is going to have to decide which instruments will get the power. </p><p>After 2030, Voyager will likely lose its ability to communicate with Earth. But that doesn't necessarily mean its mission will be over.</p><p>They <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-golden-record-earth-sounds-soundcloud-2015-7">both carry a "golden record,"</a> a 12-inch, gold-plated record that carries information about Earth.</p><p>This <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/images/">includes 115 images,</a> <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/greetings/">greetings in 55 different languages</a>, <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/sounds/">sounds including wind, rain, and the human heartbeat</a>, and <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/">90 minutes of music. </a></p><div type="image" title="The two sides of NASA's golden record onboard the Voyager probes are shown here." height="1000" width="2000" msid="92364424" hostid="261" sizebytes="138340"></div><p>It will be about another 20,000 years before the probes pass the nearest star, Proxima centauri, with this time capsule of human life per Scientific American.</p>

NASA is starting to shut down the Voyager probes, which launched in 1977 and made it deeper into space than anything since

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-probes-rocket-leak-computer-problems-2017-12">NASA's Voyager 1</a> probe has detected a faint, constant hum in the <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> beyond our <keyword id="52393" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Solar-System">solar system</keyword>.</li><li>When charged gas ripples through <keyword id="1865887" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="interstellar-space">interstellar space</keyword>, those ripples emit a detectable vibration.</li><li>The <keyword id="1367953" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Voyager-1">Voyager 1</keyword> spacecraft <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-pale-blue-dot-photo-30th-anniversary-2020-2">left Earth</a> more than 40 years ago and entered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-voyager-1-spacecraft-exiting-solar-system-2012-6">interstellar space</a> in 2012.</li></ul><p>More than 14 billion miles from Earth, <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s <keyword id="1012316" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Voyager">Voyager</keyword> 1 spacecraft is listening to the background music of interstellar space.</p><p>The probe, which launched more than 40 years ago, exited our solar system in 2012. Five years after its interstellar foray began, Voyager 1 began picking up a monotonous droning.  </p><p>According to a study published Monday in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01363-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Astronomy</a>, the spacecraft is detecting the constant burble of charged gas, known as plasma. The sound is created as this plasma ripples through the interstellar medium - a soup of radiation, gaseous particles, and dust that fills the space between stars.</p><p>"We're detecting the faint, persistent hum of interstellar gas," Stella Koch Ocker, a Cornell University astronomer and co-author of the new study, <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/05/emptiness-space-voyager-1-detects-plasma-hum">said in a release</a>.</p><p>The humming would not be audible to the human ear, Ocker said, but Voyager 1's onboard instruments can pick up the vibrations.</p><p>"If we could hear it, it would sound like a single steady note, playing constantly but changing very slightly over time," she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/faraway-nasa-probe-detects-eerie-hum-interstellar-space-2021-05-11/">told Reuters</a>.</p><p>Keeping tabs on those vibrations as Voyager 1 travels further could help astronomers learn more about what interstellar space is like, and whether the mixture of gas and radiation differs from place to place in the universe.</p><h2>'A quiet or gentle rain'</h2><div type="image" title="voyager 1 in 1976" height="2192" width="2156" msid="82587110" hostid="261"></div><p>Voyager 1 has traveled farther from Earth than any other spacecraft in history. It's one of only two human-made objects that have ever crossed into interstellar space - the other i sits counterpart, <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/beyond/exploration/?page=0&amp;per_page=10&amp;order=launch_date+desc%2Ctitle+asc&amp;search=&amp;tags=Beyond+Our+Solar+System&amp;category=33stem&amp;category=33">Voyager 2</a>, which left the solar system in 2018.</p><p>NASA launched the twin Voyagers in 1977 to swing around Jupiter and Saturn over the course of a 5-year mission. The spacecraft taught astronomers about the composition of Saturn's rings and the existence of volcanoes on Jupiter's moon, Io. Then Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, while Voyager 1 continued on toward the edge of our solar system.</p><p>To truly reach interstellar space, both Voyager probes had to cross the heliopause - the outer boundary of the stream of charged particles shot out by the sun. This solar wind, as the stream is known, extends beyond our solar system, but at <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/Heliosphere.html">the heliopause</a>, it encounters pressure from the wind in interstellar space and gets turned back toward the sun.</p><div type="image" title="voyager 1 nasa in the heliopause" height="720" width="960" msid="82587116" hostid="261"></div><p>Research suggests the sun's influence can sometimes extend beyond the heliopause, though. Occasionally, the sun spits out <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections">billions of tons</a> of charged particles from its atmosphere in the form of solar flares. These eruptions can cause violent disturbances in interstellar gas. Voyager 1 has detected such shockwaves before.</p><p>But the farther into the heliopause Voyager 1 goes, the less the sun's energy should ooze into the interstellar medium and push or pull on the gas therein.</p><p><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/as-nasas-voyager-1-surveys-interstellar-space-its-density-measurements-are-making-waves">According to NASA</a>, there will come a point in Voyager 1's travels when solar particles no longer influence its measurements. Once the probe gets there, "it will sense the stirrings from sources deeper in the cosmos," the agency said.</p><p>Indeed, the humming outlined in the new study seems unrelated to what the sun is doing - unlike those erratic shockwaves, this is a constant vibration in the interstellar medium, which suggests a different source of energy that astronomers might not know about yet.</p><p>"The interstellar medium is like a quiet or gentle rain," James Cordes, a Cornell astronomer and another study co-author, said in the release. "In the case of a solar outburst, it's like detecting a lightning burst in a thunderstorm and then it's back to a gentle rain."</p><p>Listening for the hum of that gentle rain could help researchers better understand how dense the space between stars is - and whether that density changes - as Voyager 1 gets farther and farther from Earth. It could also reveal clues about how and where the most stellar nurseries are, since stars form in high-density interstellar clouds.</p>

The farthest spacecraft from Earth has detected a 'hum' in the space beyond our solar system

<br /><br /><ul><li>The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has confirmed that an ‘unambiguously’ interstellar space object is going to visit our solar system. <br /></li><li>The comet-like object now has an official name — 2I/Borisov.<br /></li><li>2I signifies that it's the second <keyword id="5933698" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Interstellar-object">interstellar object</keyword> to be spotted and Borisov is the name of the astronomer who first spotted the object — Gennady Borisov.<br /></li></ul>Earlier this month, astronomers spotted a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-second-mysterious-object-from-interstellar-space-may-be-about-to-fly-through-our-solar-system/articleshow/71089009.cms">mysterious interstellar object</a> which will visiting our solar system. It’s only the second such object to be spotted after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-bizarre-interstellar-object-called-oumuamua-continues-to-perplex-astronomers-a-year-after-it-vanished-heres-why-a-few-scientists-still-wonder-if-it-was-alien-/articleshow/67809058.cms">Oumuamua</a>, last year.<br /><br />Now it officially has a name — 2I/Borisov. The 2I represents that it’s the second interstellar object to be spotted in our solar system.It is named after the astronomer who first spotted the object on 30 August 2019, Gennady Borisov.<br /><br />Aside from naming the object, the International Astronomical Union (<a href="https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1910/">IAU</a>) also confirmed that the object is ‘unambiguously’ interstellar in its origin.<br /><br /><strong>More time with the comet<br /></strong><br />Astronomers currently believe that Borisov is a comet since it has a condensed body and a short tail as per the images captured by the <a href="https://www.iac.es/en/outreach/news/gran-telescopio-canarias-obtains-visible-spectrum-c2019-q4-borisov-first-confirmed-interstellar-comet">Gran Telescopio Canarias</a> — one of the largest telescopes in the world.<br /><br />If it is a comet, it has the most hyperbolic orbits that has ever been observed.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="borisov orbit_edited" msid="71286898" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;2I Borisov&amp;#39;s hyperbolic orbit&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />It’s Borisov’s trajectory and velocity that led astronomers to conclude that it is a visitor to our solar system.<br /><br />It’s difficult to ascertain the exact size of the comet because its nucleus is embedded in the coma — the surrounding dust and ice. But, based on how brightly it shines, IAU estimates that its at least a few kilometers in diameter.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="borisov_brightness" msid="71286886" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The estimated diameter of 2I Borisov based on its brightness&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />It’s also going to be visiting for a lot longer than Oumuamua. Astronomers only had a few days to observe the first interstellar object but Borisov will be staying on till January giving scientists months to record its behaviour.<br /><br />It will be the closest to Earth on 7 December 2019 at a distance of about 3 million kilometers.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-second-mysterious-object-from-interstellar-space-may-be-about-to-fly-through-our-solar-system/articleshow/71089009.cms">A second mysterious object from interstellar space may be about to fly through our solar system</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-bizarre-interstellar-object-called-oumuamua-continues-to-perplex-astronomers-a-year-after-it-vanished-heres-why-a-few-scientists-still-wonder-if-it-was-alien-/articleshow/67809058.cms">A bizarre interstellar object called 'Oumuamua continues to perplex astronomers a year after it vanished. Here's why a few scientists still wonder if it was alien.</a><br />

Second mysterious interstellar space object to fly through our solar system has an official name

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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano snapped an incredible selfie while floating in space. </li><li>Parmitano is currently serving as the third European and first Italian in command of the International Space Station. </li><li>Parmitano took the selfie while he was on a space walk mission on January 25. </li><li>See the space selfie and other incredible photos from the mission below:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>We're all striving for that perfect selfie, but an Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano just put every Instagram influencer and celebrity to shame by taking a selfie in space.</p><p>Parmitano is currently serving as the third European and first Italian in command at the International Space Station, <a href="http://lucaparmitano.esa.int/">according to his website. </a></p><p>The photograph, which was taken on 25 January and uploaded on to <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/49456624416">NASA's Flickr page,</a> can be seen below. </p><p>From the photo appears that Parmitano held up a camera up to his reflective space helmet, which doubled up as a mirror, and captured the space selfie. </p><p>According to NASA, Parmitano was with fellow astronaut Andrew Morgan and the pair were finalizing thermal repairs on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - a dark matter and antimatter detector. </p><p>The spacewalk lasted six hours and 16 minutes, and other photographs showing the astronauts at work can be seen below: </p><p>It isn't the first time Parmitano has snapped a photo of himself while orbiting the earth.</p><p>He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/italian-astronaut-takes-the-best-selfie-of-all-time-2013-7?r=US&amp;IR=T">took a similar selfie in 2013</a> during his first spacewalk when he was working as a flight engineer for Expedition 36. </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coolest-things-in-space-2018-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">10 of the coolest things in space that you had no idea existed</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-nasa-photos-show-early-space-exploration-2020-1?r=US&amp;IR=T">Vintage NASA images reveal the agency's earliest feats, from launching the first astronauts to building a '70s space station</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-air-force-satellites-might-crash-in-space-over-pittsburgh-2020-1?r=US&amp;IR=T">A dead NASA space telescope and an old Air Force satellite avoided a crash on Wednesday, beating 'alarming' odds</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lego-sent-international-space-station-set-into-stratosphere-2020-1?r=US&amp;IR=T">Lego is releasing an International Space Station set. The company sent it into the stratosphere in a brilliant marketing stunt.</a></li></ul>

An Italian astronaut snapped an incredible interstellar selfie while floating in space

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A gigantic interstellar object called <keyword id="10940945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oumuamua">'Oumuamua</keyword> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">flew through our solar system</a> in 2017.</li><li>The object baffled scientists: Some think it's a <keyword id="158876" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="comet">comet</keyword>, others have suggested an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">alien spaceship</a>. </li><li>New research says <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a> is a piece of a Pluto-like planet from another solar system.</li></ul><p>The origin and identity of a massive <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> object that careened past Earth in 2017 have remained a mystery ever since.</p><p>The object, called 'Oumuamua - a Hawaiian name meaning "scout" or "messenger" - traveled on a trajectory that strongly suggested it came <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">from another star system</a>. That made it the first interstellar object ever detected. </p><p>But what was it? A few researchers, including Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, posited the object was an alien spacecraft. Others suggested it was an asteroid, or perhaps an interstellar comet.</p><p>Now, a <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JE006706">pair</a> of <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JE006807">papers</a> published in an American Geophysical Union journal offers another theory: that 'Oumuamua was shrapnel from a tiny planet in a different solar system.</p><p>"We've probably resolved the mystery of what 'Oumuamua is, and we can reasonably identify it as a chunk of an 'exo-Pluto,' a Pluto-like planet in another solar system," Steven Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University and a co-author of the new study, said <a href="https://news.agu.org/press-release/interstellar-object-oumuamua-is-likely-a-piece-of-a-pluto-like-planet">in a press release</a>.</p><h2>A planetary fragment made of frozen nitrogen</h2><p>Desch and his coauthors think that half a billion years ago, a space object struck 'Oumuamua's parent planet. That sent 'Oumuamua careening towards our solar system. </p><p>Once it neared the sun, their thinking goes, 'Oumuamua sped up as sunlight vaporized its icy body. Comets follow a similar movement pattern, known as the "rocket effect."</p><p>Because 'Oumuamua's makeup is unknown, the researchers calculated what kinds of ice would sublimate (change from solid to gas) at a rate that could account for 'Oumuamua's rocket effect. They concluded that the object is likely made of nitrogen ice, like the surface of <keyword id="506107" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pluto">Pluto</keyword> and Neptune's moon Triton. </p><div type="image" title="pluto planet" height="985" width="985" msid="81541215" hostid="261"></div><p>As it got approached our solar system - and therefore the sun - 'Oumuamua started sloughing off frozen nitrogen layers. The object entered our solar system in 1995, though we didn't realize it at the time, then subsequently lost 95% of its mass and melted away to a sliver, according to the study authors.</p><h2>It's a comet. It's an asteroid. Nope, it's neither.</h2><div type="image" title="oumuamua 1I 2017 u1 solar system trajectory illustration comet asteroid or alien spaceship nasa swri esa stsci PIA22357_fig1" height="1800" width="3200" msid="81541217" hostid="261"></div><p>By the time astronomers became aware of 'Oumuamua's existence in 2017, it was already zipping away from Earth at 196,000 mph. So they had only a few weeks to study the strange, skyscraper-sized object. Several telescopes on the ground and one in space took limited observations as the object flew away, but astronomers were unable to examine it in full. 'Oumuamua is now too far away and too dim to observe further with existing technologies.</p><p>The limited nature of the information gathered left room for scientists to offer guesses about what the object might be and where it came from. 'Oumuamua was initially classified as a comet, but it didn't appear to be made of ice, and it didn't emit gases as a comet would.</p><p>'Oumuamua's spin, speed, and trajectory couldn't be explained by gravity alone, which suggested it was not an asteroid either. And the object's shape and profile - it's about one-quarter of a mile long but only 114 feet wide - doesn't match that of any comet or asteroid observed before.</p><p>According to the authors of the new study, however, 'Oumuamua's frozen-nitrogen composition could explain that shape.</p><p>"As the outer layers of nitrogen ice evaporated, the shape of the body would have become progressively more flattened, just like a bar of soap does as the outer layers get rubbed off through use," Alan Jackson, another study co-author, said in the release.</p><h2>Some astronomers still think it was an alien ship</h2><p>Unlike most space rocks, 'Oumuamua seemed to be accelerating, rather than slowing down, in telescope observations.</p><p>That is in part why Loeb thinks 'Oumuamua was an alien spacecraft. In a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-object-close-to-earth-in-2017-says-harvard-professor-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">book</a> he published in January, titled "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth," Loeb describes 'Oumuamua as a defunct piece of alien technology.</p><p>"The object has anomalies that merit some attention - things that do not line up in the ways we expected," he told Insider in December. "Other people say, 'Lets shove those anomalies under the rug of conservatism.' I have a problem with that because when something doesn't line up, you should say it."</p><div type="image" title="oumuamua interstellar comet asteroid object esa hubble nasa eso m kornmesser" height="932" width="1280" msid="81541219" hostid="261"></div><p>Still, a 2019 study from an international group of astronomers analyzed all the 'Oumuamua data available and concluded that Loeb's theory was unlikely.</p><p>"We find no compelling evidence to favor an alien explanation for 'Oumuamua," the astronomers wrote.</p><p>Matthew Knight, a University of Maryland astronomer who co-wrote the study, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/uom-in062719.php">put it this way</a>: "This thing is weird and admittedly hard to explain, but that doesn't exclude other natural phenomena that could explain it."</p>

The mysterious interstellar object 'Oumuamua was a chunk of planet from another solar system, a new study says

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s final "Image of the Day" for 2020 depicts the Orion Nebula, located 1,500 light-years from Earth.</li><li>The Hubble and Spitzer <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">Space</keyword> Telescopes captured the stunning, colorful image.</li><li>Nebulae are giant clouds of gas and dust where new stars are born.</li></ul><p>NASA decided to share some interstellar fireworks to end an unforgettable year.</p><p>The agency posts an <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html">"image of the day,"</a> every day, and the final image of 2020 did not disappoint.</p><p>A canvas of color, NASA's December 31 image of the day depicts a composite image of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/chaos-at-the-heart-of-the-orion-nebula/">the Orion Nebula</a>, captured by the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hubble Space </a>and Spitzer Space Telescopes.</p><p>It's located more than 1,500 light-years away from Earth.</p><p>Nebulae like this one are interstellar nurseries  - giant clouds of gas and dust in space that cradle infant stars as they're born. Some nebulae form as stars die: As a star's core cools, it starts to shed its outer layers, which disperse to form gaseous clouds.</p><h2>A rainbow canvas</h2><p>To the naked eye, nebulae wouldn't actually look like rainbow canvases peppered with dots of lights (which typically show new stars forming).</p><div type="image" title="Cepheus nebula" height="1083" width="2500" msid="80064951" hostid="261"></div><p>When space telescopes like the Hubble image the hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon molecules that make up nebulae like Orion, <a href="https://www.space.com/8059-truth-photos-hubble-space-telescope-sees.html">they don't capture color</a>. Rather, Hubble records particles of light, which NASA can then view through different filters that only let in certain wavelengths of color. Then they assign color to the particles that come through those filters (light than came through the red filter is assigned a red color, for example.)</p><div type="image" title="Helix Nebula" height="582" width="700" msid="80064952" hostid="261"></div><p>By combining images of the same nebula viewed with different filters, the agency can create a composite, color image like the ones shown above.</p><p>"We often use color as a tool, whether it is to enhance an object's detail or to visualize what ordinarily could never be seen by the human eye," <a href="http://hubble.stsci.edu/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of_color/#:~:text=A%20typical%20Hubble%20image%20is,representing%20different%20colors%20of%20light.&amp;text=We%20often%20use%20color%20as,seen%20by%20the%20human%20eye.eye.">NASA said</a>.</p><p>There are roughly <a href="https://theplanets.org/nebula-facts/#:~:text=Right%20now%2C%20we%20know%20of,spherical%2C%20elliptical%2C%20or%20bipolar.">3,000 nebulae</a> in our galaxy.</p><p>The closest known nebula to our planet is the Helix Nebula, the cosmic remnant of a dying star. It's about <a href="https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/nebula/en/#:~:text=A%20nebula%20is%20a%20giant,dust%20and%20gas%20in%20space.">half the distance from Earth</a> as the Orion Nebula is - 700 light-years (so if you traveled at the speed of light, it'd take you 700 years to get there).</p><p>The <keyword id="145693" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hubble-Space-Telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</keyword> has been imaging nebulae <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-the-hubble-space-telecope-58.html#:~:text=The%20Hubble%20Space%20Telescope%20is,much%20as%20two%20adult%20elephants.">for 30 years</a>, and these images help scientists learn more about how these cosmic clouds evolve, or even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-space-telescope-reveals-fading-nebula-in-deep-space-2020-12">dim and shrink</a>, over time.</p>

NASA shared some interstellar fireworks to bring 2020 to an end. The Orion Nebula looks like a rainbow canvas peppered with dots of light.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">Astronomers think object C/2019 Q4 (green line) could be an interstellar object, perhaps a comet from another star system.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers think they've detected an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-civilizations-may-have-already-colonized-galaxy-study-2019-8">interstellar object</a> approaching our solar system.</li><li>Called "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), the object appears to be following a path originating from outside the solar system. It may pass near Mars in October.</li><li>This would be only the second interstellar object ever observed in our solar system. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-not-alien-spacecraft-study-2019-7">first such visitor</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, took scientists by surprise in 2017. This time, they're getting ready to watch C/2019 Q4 with "everything" they can, one astronomer said.</li><li>If C/2019 Q4 is indeed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">interstellar</a>, scientists should be able to study the object until it grows too dim to see in early 2021.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Astronomers may have spotted the second object ever to visit our solar system from another star system. The object may even fly near Mars later this year, though it's still far away.</p><p>The scientists' hunch is strong but not yet certain: Right now, the chances are much higher that the object, known as "C/2019 Q4" (formerly "gb00234"), is interstellar, rather than an asteroid or comet from within the solar system.</p><p>The first such interstellar object ever detected - the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">controversial</a> cigar-shaped space rock '<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Oumuamua</a> - zoomed through our solar system in 2017.</p><p>Amateur Ukrainian astronomer Gennady Borisov may have been the first to spot C/2019 Q4 in the sky on August 30. It hasn't yet entered our solar system, but astronomers have been collecting data in hopes of plotting the object's path through space and figuring out where it came from.</p><p>"It's so exciting, we're basically looking away from all of our other projects right now," <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eso.org%2F%7Eohainaut%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, told Business Insider on Wednesday. Hainaut was part of a global team of astronomers that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0254-4/">studied</a> 'Oumuamua as it passed through the solar system two years ago.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " he added. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>Early images suggest C/2019 Q4 is followed by a small tail or halo of dust. That's a distinct trait of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, which leads them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make C/2019 Q4 simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>This could also allow scientists to more easily study the object's composition, since telescope instruments can "taste" light to look for chemical signatures. </p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us. It's the next-best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system," Hainaut said.</p><h2>Astronomers are preparing to watch the object with as many telescopes as possible</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ESO</span></p><p class="caption">The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers around the globe are grabbing every telescope available to plot C/2019 Q4's path through space. The goal: See if the object has an orbit that's elliptical (oval-shaped and around the sun) or hyperbolic (checkmark-shaped, and on an open-ended trajectory).</p><p>As of now, it seems much more likely that its path is hyperbolic, though astronomers say more observations are required to know for sure. In particular, they're trying to ascertain C/2019 Q4's eccentricity, or how extreme its orbit is.</p><p>"The error indicates it's still possible that's within the solar system," Hainaut said. "But that error is decreasing as we get more and more data, and the eccentricity is looking interstellar."</p><p>The object's seemingly high velocity and its comet-like shroud of dust also tilt the scales toward interstellar, Hainaut added.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://orbitsimulator.com/gravitySimulatorCloud/simulations/1568147419153_gb00234.html">OrbitalSimulator.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">This rough simulation shows C/2019 Q4's possible orbital path (green) through the solar system. It may pass between the orbits of Jupiter (purple) and Mars (orange) in late October.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say. But even with the very best data, we may need more," he said. "It's frustrating."</p><p>When 'Oumuamua sped past Earth at a distance of just 15 million miles in October 2017, astronomers had no idea it was coming.</p><p>"We had to scramble for telescope time," Hainaut said. "This time, we're ready."</p><p>If it's interstellar, C/2019 Q4 would reach its closest point to the sun at the end of December, and scientists should be able to observe it through about January 2021.</p><p>Hainaut and his colleagues have some smaller telescopes queued up for observations, but he said he'd like to use "everything" to observe C/2019 Q4. His team is trying to get time on the "big guys": the Very Large Telescope in Chile, the Keck Observatory, the Gemini telescope in Hawaii, and more.</p><p>He said one colleague is also "polishing a proposal" to have the Hubble Space Telescope take a look, while other teammates are seeking the use of NASA's two infrared space telescopes: Spitzer and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore (WISE).</p><h2>Scientists remain cautious about C/2019 Q4's identity, though</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2018/06/Artist_impression_of_Oumuamua">ESA/Hubble; NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist's depiction of interstellar object 'Oumuamua.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Although many astronomers are excited about C/2019 Q4, more work has to be done to confirm it as interstellar.</p><p>"This is not the first object since 2017/1I, better known as ʻOumuamua, to show a hyperbolic orbit," Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer at Queen's University Belfast, <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171724557952200706" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Wednesday.</p><p>Bannister noted that, with such limited observations, an object that appears to be interstellar orbit can turn out to have an orbit within our solar system.</p><p>"Sometimes, we just have to wait for the motion of the heavens. And make more observations," she <a href="https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/1171727224212545541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.</p><p>Those observations aren't easy, Hainaut said, due to C/2019 Q4's position relative to the sun - there's a very limited window of time before dawn when astronomers can see it.</p><p>"It's hard to see, but we have the best guys doing astrometry, trying to measure its position in the sky," he said. "It could be a few days or a few weeks before we have enough data to definitively say."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">Mysterious space objects like 'Oumuamua will visit our solar system again. Scientists may intercept the next one with a robotic probe.</a></em></p><p>If C/2019 Q4 does turn out to be a second interstellar object, that would bode well for a proposed mission Hainaut is working on to send robotic probes into space to intercept future objects like this.</p><p>"One of the main issues is: How many of these are they? If we detect one every century, it's hard to plan a mission to intercept one," he said.</p><p>If these objects come every couple of years, on the other hand, astronomers might even be able to get choosy about which object to intercept.</p><p>"This suggests we can afford to wait one or two or three years to get the right one, and maybe not the first one we spot after organizing a mission," Hainaut said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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