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<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

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Comet Nishimura could grace our skies with its eerie glow in early September. </li><li>The comet may become visible to the naked eye in the coming weeks, NASA said.</li></ul><p>A mysterious green comet, called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comet-heading-earth-bright-outshine-stars-scientists-c-2023-a32023-3">Comet</a> Nishimura, could be visible to the naked eye in mid-September.</p><p>Also known as Comet C/2023 P1, the cosmic object could be more easily visible from September 7 and will reach its peak brightness on September 17 when it will be 78 million miles from Earth. </p><p>The comet, which got its name from the Japanese astronomer Hideo Nishimura, currently has a green tail and is gaining in intensity as it heads toward the sun, NASA reported.</p><p>This is a crucial stage. The sun can make comets brighter by freeing more gas into their tails. But it can also <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/news/a-green-comet-that-takes-about-50000-years-to-complete-its-orbit-around-the-sun-will/ckf43sx">break them up </a>before they reach the Earth. </p><p>Still, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/introducing-comet-nishimura">NASA is optimistic</a>. "Will Comet Nishimura become visible to the unaided eye? Given the unpredictability of comets, no one can say for sure, but it currently seems like a good bet," NASA said in a blog post. </p><p>Backyard astronomers are encouraged to take their <a href="https://starwalk.space/en/news/new-comet-c2023-p1">telescopes</a> out to spot the comet in case it breaks up in the coming days, comet-tracking app SpaceWalk suggested on its blog. </p><p>For the rest of us, it's worth turning our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/green-comet-ztf-viewing-where-when-how-see-2023-1">attention to the skies</a> from early September in the hours before dawn. The comet is almost aligned with the sun, so the best chance of catching it is right before our star rises.</p><h2>This could be a rare interstellar object</h2><p>Some have suggested the comet's <a href="https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&amp;day=16&amp;month=08&amp;year=2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">orbit seems hyperbolic</a>, meaning it would have "too much energy to remain inside the solar system." </p><p>This would mean the comet has come from interstellar space and is just visiting our solar system before it heads out to outer space forever.</p><p>"The comet will only visit us once, with the sun acting as a gravitational slingshot, sending the comet hurtling out of the solar system after its flyby," spaceweather.com reported. </p><p>If this hyperbolic orbit is confirmed, Comet Nishimura would join a very <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">short list of interstellar objects</a> that have visited the solar system.</p><p>This includes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-oumuamua-part-of-planet-not-aliens-study-2021-3">Oumuamua</a>, a bizarre space rock that moved around space in a way that first puzzled scientists and caused some to wrongly speculate it could have been an alien ship. </p><p>Others, however, think the comet has come from the source of many other comets, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-will-voyager-1-2-probes-see-next-nasa">the Oort cloud</a> near the outer reaches of our solar system, Forbes reported. </p><p>That would then mean the comet is on a very long orbit around the sun and could visit us again, though probably not for hundreds or thousands of years.</p>

A mysterious green comet is approaching Earth and could be visible to the naked eye soon. Here's how to see it.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)</a></span></p><p class="caption">This Hubble image taken October 12, 2019 is the sharpest view of the comet 2I/Borisov to date.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a>'s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hubble-space-telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> has snapped a clear photo of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">the second interstellar visitor ever detected in our solar system</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/image-reveals-second-interstellar-object-comet-tail-2019-9">The comet</a>, called 2I/Borisov, came from an unknown star system. It's hurtling past the sun at 110,000 miles per hour and is expected to pass close to Mars later this month.</li><li>The photos and time-lapse video from Hubble show a halo of dust surrounding the object's unseen core, just like comets from our own solar system. That's very different than the first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/interstellar-space">interstellar</a> object ever detected, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua">'Oumuamua</a>, which was an inactive rock.</li><li>Astronomers worldwide are racing to study 2I/Borisov with other telescopes. More Hubble observations are scheduled for the coming months.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>The second interstellar visitor ever detected is plummeting into our solar system, and NASA's Hubble telescope just snapped a clear photo of it.</p><p>The comet, known as 2I/Borisov, came from another star system, though astronomers don't know exactly where yet. It's named for the amateur astronomer who first spotted it on August 30: Gennady Borisov, who lives in Crimea. Nearly a month later, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed the object's interstellar origins.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">It's official: The second interstellar visitor ever discovered is about to fly through our solar system</a></em></p><p>The comet is hurtling past the sun at speeds of 110,000 miles per hour, then is expected to fly near Mars this month, passing outside the planet's orbit and getting no closer to Earth than 190 million miles (300 million kilometers).</p><p>2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object ever found to be passing through our solar system. The first such object, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">mysterious</a> and cigar-shaped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua</a> (which a few scientists controversially argued <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">could be alien</a> in origin), sped past Earth at a distance of 15 million miles in October 2017.</p><p>"The main difference from 'Oumuamua and this one is that we got it a long, long time in advance, " <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, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-object-possibly-approaching-our-solar-system-2019-9">told Business Insider</a> in September. "Now astronomers are much more prepared."</p><p>NASA turned the lens of its most powerful space telescope, Hubble, toward the comet and snapped the clearest photo of it yet on October 12. The agency released the image on Wednesday. At the time of the photo, 2I/Borisov was 260 million miles from Earth.</p><p>"Whereas 'Oumuamua appeared to be a rock, Borisov is really active, more like a normal comet. It's a puzzle why these two are so different," David Jewitt, the astronomer who led the Hubble team that observed the comet, said in a <a href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-53#section-id-2">press release</a>.</p><h2>2I/Borisov looks like comets from our solar system </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/21240">Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA/Composite image by Travis Rector</a></span></p><p class="caption">Gemini Observatory's two-color composite image of 2I/Borisov (called C/2019 Q4 at the time), in September 2019. Blue and red dashes are background stars that appear to streak as the comet moves.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The new image reveals a concentration of dust surrounding the comet's core, though the core itself is too small for Hubble to see. NASA has <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2019-185">estimated</a> that the core is between 1.2 and 10 miles (2 and 16 kilometers) in diameter. </p><p>That dust halo is characteristic of comets - they hold ice that gets heated up by nearby stars, leading them to shoot out gas and grit into space. The dust could make 2I/Borisov simpler to track than 'Oumuamua, since dust brightly reflects sunlight.</p><p>The Hubble team also shared a time-lapse video clip (below) of the comet; the footage spans seven hours of observations, which is why stars are streaked across the background.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-observes-1st-confirmed-interstellar-comet">NASA, ESA and J. DePasquale (STScI)</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Hubble image reveals a central concentration of dust around the comet's unseen nucleus.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Observations of 2I/Borisov could tell astronomers about the structure and chemistry of the materials that form in whichever star system the object came from. So far, it looks a lot like the comets from our own solar system. </p><p>"Though another star system could be quite different from our own, the fact that the comet's properties appear to be very similar to those of the solar system's building blocks is very remarkable," Amaya Moro-Martin, an astronomer at the Space Telescope <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Institute, said in the release.</p><h2>Astronomers will watch the interstellar 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>NASA/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">NASA's Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>More Hubble observations of the comet are scheduled through January 2020, and astronomers have submitted proposals for even more after that.</p><p>"New comets are always unpredictable," Max Mutchler, another member of the Hubble team, said in the release. "They sometimes brighten suddenly or even begin to fragment as they are exposed to the intense heat of the sun for the first time. Hubble is poised to monitor whatever happens next with its superior sensitivity and resolution."</p><p>Meanwhile, astronomers are grabbing observation time with every other available telescope, including what Hainaut called the "big guys," like the Very Large Telescope in Chile.</p><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 is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers expect 2I/Borisov to be brightest in mid-December, when it will get closest to the sun. Mid-sized telescopes should be able to keep observing it until April 2020. After that, larger, more sophisticated telescopes can continue watching it until October 2020, when it will fade back into interstellar space.</p><p>Overall, the fact that 2I/Borisov was detected just two years after 'Oumuamua suggests that interstellar visitors may be far more common than scientists previously thought. A recent <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2019/09/26/get-ready-more-interstellar-objects-yale-astronomers-say">study</a> found that a few such large objects likely enter our solar system every year, along with hundreds more small objects that are harder to detect.</p><p>Each new object that astronomers identify can teach us something new about other star systems.</p><p>"Here we have something that was born around another star and traveling toward us," Hainaut said. "It's the next best thing to sending a probe to a different solar system."</p><p><em>Dave Mosher contributed reporting to this story.</em></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>

NASA's Hubble space telescope just took incredible photos of a visiting comet from another star system

<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, which astronomers believe is a comet (not an asteroid).</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>In October 2017, astronomers detected a strange, cigar-shaped object passing through our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/solar-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">solar system</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>The object, called 'Oumuamua, is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/comets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comet</a> from another star system.</strong></li><li><strong>A team of astronomers compared the path of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Oumuamua</a> through space to the motions of millions of stars to figure out where it came from.</strong></li><li><strong>The team found four possible candidate stars for the interstellar comet's home, but they say the search is not over.</strong></li></ul><p>After a Hawaiian telescope spotted <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-comet-asteroid-a2017-u1-evidence-2017-10">'Oumuamua</a> traveling through space in October 2017, astronomers realized it was weird.</p><p>Very weird.</p><p>The object had a cigar-like shape and was 750 feet by 115 feet in size, or roughly as large as a skyscraper. It was dark red in color and moving inexplicably fast. Just in case, one group of astronomers even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-object-radio-telescope-listens-signals-2017-12">scanned it for alien radio emissions</a> (yet heard nothing).</p><p>Most importantly, 'Oumuamua wasn't circling the sun like a typical space rock. Instead, it had dived between Mercury and the sun, swooped below our home star, and was zooming past Earth on its way out of our solar system.</p><p>This showed that 'Oumuamua - whose name means "a messenger from afar, arriving first" in Hawaiian - was actually an interstellar traveler from beyond the solar system.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oumuamua_orbit_at_perihelion.png">nagualdesign and Tomruen/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)</a></span></p><p class="caption">The path of the object 'Oumuamua through the solar system in September and October 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Astronomers eventually determined 'Oumuamua wasn't an asteroid but instead <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-cigar-shaped-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua-classified-as-comet-2018-6">a "mildly active" comet</a>.</p><p>But if it is not from our solar system, then where did it come from?</p><p>Using the newest and most precise star map ever created, eight astronomers have located four stars that are candidates for 'Oumuamua's home. Each star's path in relatively recent cosmological history matches somewhat closely to the comet's historic path.</p><p>Their <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.09009" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a>, highlighted Tuesday in a European Space Agency (ESA) <a href="https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Gaia/Gaia_finds_candidates_for_interstellar_Oumuamua_s_home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>, was recently accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, a peer-reviewed <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> publication.</p><h2>How the team found candidate homes for 'Oumuamua</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/2013/12/Gaia_mapping_the_stars_of_the_Milky_Way">ESA</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of the Gaia spacecraft.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The research team began its search with an unprecedented map of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-milky-way-galaxy-by-gaia-spacecraft-2018-4">1.7 billion stars</a> created by an ESA spacecraft called Gaia. The new map, released in April, is the second Gaia dataset published by the ESA since the spacecraft launched in December 2013.</p><p>The map doesn't just note the position of the stars, though: It also shows where stars are moving through space and how fast.</p><p>About 7 million stars in Gaia's database have motion data that is detailed enough to let astronomers to precisely "rewind" their positions to millions of years in the past.</p><p>By comparing the historic path of 'Oumuamua against these millions of stars, the team discovered four candidates which <a href="https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/RewardingLegalIndianringneckparakeet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">line up within a few light-years of the comet</a>. One of these star systems may have ejected 'Oumuamua toward Earth, likely via a giant planet early in the system's formation.</p><p>All of the candidates are dwarf stars, which means they are small and burn very hot. Two were previously studied (HD 292249 and HIP 3757) and two others were temporarily named "home-3" and "home-4" by the tem.</p><p>The closest match to the path of 'Oumuamua was with the dwarf star HIP 3757. The paths of the star and wayward comet came within two light-years of each other some 1 million years or so ago.</p><h2>Why the search is not over</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ESA/Gaia/DPAC</span></p><p class="caption">Gaia's all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The team still isn't confident they've found 'Oumuamua's home.</p><p>For one, Gaia's latest and most detailed sample of 7 million stars - while vast - is only partial. Some 180 million stars exist closer to Earth than the ones examined by the research team.</p><p>"Hence it is [therefore] unlikely that we would find the home system in our study," the authors wrote in their study.</p><p>The team also looked for encounters within the past few million years. In reality, 'Oumuamua may have traveled much farther and longer before reaching our solar system - perhaps tens of millions of years or more, the authors said.</p><p>In addition, the four stars pinpointed by the search aren't yet known to harbor any planets, let alone worlds large enough to kick 'Oumuamua out of its home star system.</p><p>Finally, the speed of 'Oumuamua is better explained by a two-star (or binary) system, yet none of the four systems described by the study have more than one star in them.</p><p>The astronomers behind the work are waiting for Gaia's third star map to be released. Those data should describe the ultra-precise motions of 10 times as many nearby stars as the team looked at for their study - perhaps including the one from which our interstellar visitor originated.</p><p>"The search for 'Oumuamua's home continues," the authors said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-tail-new-horizons-comet-planet-hybrid-2016-5">This strange phenomenon could reclassify former planet Pluto yet again</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A weird, cigar-shaped object flew through the solar system last year. Now astronomers may know where it came from.

<p><em><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22357">NASA/ESA/STScI</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of the space object 'Oumuamua (formally known as 1I/2017 U1) flying through the solar system in late 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></em></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A building-sized interstellar object called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">'Oumuamua</a> <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 cigar-shaped object has baffled scientists. Many think 'Oumuamua is a comet, though a few have suggested it could be an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-scientists-oumuamua-interstellar-object-alien-spacecraft-solar-sail-2018-11">alien probe</a>.</li><li>Now, a study says <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-object-robotic-spacecraft-launch-intercept-missions-2019-2">'Oumuamua isn't an alien spacecraft</a>, and has a wholly natural origin.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>In October 2017, a massive object careened past Earth at a distance of 15 million miles.</p><p>By the time astronomers became aware of the celestial visitor, it was already careening out of the solar system at 110,000 mph. The object's trajectory strongly suggested it came <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">from another star system</a>, making it the first interstellar object ever detected.</p><p>Scientists gave it a Hawaiian name, 'Oumuamua, meaning "scout" or "messenger from afar, arriving first." </p><p>Unfortunately, 'Oumuamua's unexpected appearance and rapid exit from our solar system meant that scientists only had a few weeks to study the strange visitor. Several telescopes on the ground and one in space took limited observations of 'Oumuamua as it flew away, but astronomers were unable to examine it in full. The skyscraper-size object is now too far away and too dim to observe further with our current technologies.</p><p>"This one's gone forever," <a href="http://www.physics.nau.edu/~trilling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Trilling</a>, an astronomer at Northern Arizona University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">previously told Business Insider</a>. "We have all the data we're ever going to have about 'Oumuamua."</p><p>The limits of information gathered about the object left room for scientists to offer guesses about what it might be and where it came from. Those have run the gamut from comet to asteroid to a never-before-seen alien spaceship. In particular, one astronomer from Harvard University and a few of his colleagues have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-comet-asteroid-a2017-u1-evidence-2017-10">speculated about potential extraterrestrial origins</a>. But nearly all other experts who have studied 'Oumuamua say the aliens hypothesis is extraordinarily unlikely.</p><p><em><strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">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></em></p><p>Now, a new study from the international team of astronomers has concluded that the space object has a wholly natural origin.</p><p><span>"The alien spacecraft hypothesis is a fun idea, but our analysis suggests there is a whole host of natural phenomena that could explain it," study author and astronomer Matthew Knight <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/uom-in062719.php">said in a press release</a>.</span></p><h2>It's a comet. It's an asteroid. It's ... an alien ship?</h2><p>The source of the 'Oumuamua controversy is that the object is undeniably weird.</p><p>It was initially classified as a comet, but doesn't appear to be made of ice and doesn't emit gases like a comet would. 'Oumuamua's spin, speed, and trajectory can't be explained by gravity alone, which suggested it's not an asteroid either. And 'Oumuamua's cigar-shaped profile - it's about one-quarter of a mile in length but only 114 feet wide - doesn't match any comet or asteroid observed before.</p><p><span>What's more, telescopes observed that the object was accelerating rather than slowing down, unlike most space rocks. </span></p><p>"We have never seen anything like 'Oumuamua in our solar system. It's really a mystery still," Knight said. <span>"This thing is weird and admittedly hard to explain, but that doesn't exclude other natural phenomena that could explain it."</span></p><p><span>In 2017, Knight and his colleagues <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.04723">suggested</a> that 'Oumuamua was an elongated, roughly 820-foot-long comet. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0816-x">The new study</a>, published yesterday in the journal Nature Astronomy, analyzed all the existing data available about 'Oumuamua and came to a similar conclusion about the unlikelihood of alien influence.</span></p><p><span>"We find no compelling evidence to favor an alien explanation for 'Oumuamua," the authors wrote.</span></p><p><span><em><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ESO/M. Kornmesser</span></p><p class="caption">Artist's impression of 'Oumuamua</p></div><p></p></div></div></em></span></p><p><span>The most prominent scientist suggesting aliens could be a possible explanation has been <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Avi Loeb</a>, the chair of Harvard University's astronomy department. His idea was that 'Oumuamua <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1810.11490.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">could potentially be some sort of alien solar sail</a> - a craft that uses <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-taking-up-first-ever-solar-sail-2019-6">sunlight to power its travels through space</a>.</span></p><p><span> In December 2017, Loeb directed a project called Breakthrough Listen (an effort to listen for alien signals that Loeb helps run) to point radio antennas <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-object-radio-telescope-listens-signals-2017-12">at 'Oumuamua</a>. No alien communications were detected.</span></p><p><span>But in </span><a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/advanced-extraterrestrials-as-an-approximation-to-god/?curator=MediaREDEF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a post published by Scientific American</a><span>, Loeb wrote that humans spotting alien technology "might resemble an imaginary encounter of ancient cave people with a modern cell phone," at first interpreting it as "shiny rock" and not a "communication device."</span></p><p>Knight and his team disagree with that hypothesis.</p><p>"Our preference is to stick with analogues we know, unless or until we find something unique," he said.<span> </span></p><p><span>Scientists may never settle on the true identity of 'Oumuamua, but</span> Knight and other authors of the new study don't think 'Oumuamua will be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Instead, it could be the first of many interstellar visitors that scientists are able to observe.</p><p><span>"We may start seeing a new object every year. That's when we'll start to know whether 'Oumuamua is weird, or common," Knight said. "If we find 10 to 20 of these things and 'Oumuamua still looks unusual, we'll have to reexamine our explanations."</span></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>

The bizarre interstellar object 'Oumuamua that flew through our solar system was almost definitely not aliens, a new study says

<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

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>There's a very strange space rock flying through our solar neighborhood that scientists think could be a rogue, alien comet from a completely different solar system.<p>It's called <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news/family_ties">Comet 69P/Machholz</a>, and it's the <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/southern_delta_aquarids.cfm">most-likely suspect</a> responsible for the annual meteor shower happening this week.</p><p>If that's the case, then right now Earth is flying through this alien comet's tail, which consists of dust and debris the comet has shed in its path around the sun.</p><p>As these comet guts get swept up by Earth's gravity, they fall toward us, burning up in the atmosphere on their way down in the form of what we call shooting stars - or a meteor shower. This week's show of falling stars is called the Delta Aquarid meteor shower.</p><p>The shower takes place from July 12 through August 23, but the best time to catch a glimpse - when the most meteors are streaking across the sky - will be early Wednesday morning, after moon-set and before sunrise centered around 2 a.m. (for all time zones), according to <a href="http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-delta-aquarid-meteor-shower">EarthSky</a>.</p><p>The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is not as spectacular as next month's Perseid meteor shower, but it's still worth checking out. You'll need to have dark skies, far from city lights. At peak viewing time you should see between 10 to 20 meteors an hour.</p><p>To glimpse the meteors all you have to do is lie on your back and keep your eyes peeled in the direction of the constellation Aquarius - each meteor shower is named for the constellation where the meteors seem to appear from, hence the name "Delta Aquarid." You can determine where Aquarius will be in your night sky at 2 a.m. with an astronomy app like <a href="http://www.stellarium.org/">Stellarium</a>.</p><p>But don't worry if you can't get out of the city or aren't willing to stay up until 2 a.m., you can still watch the meteor shower live. <a href="http://main.slooh.com/">Slooh</a>, an online observatory, will be broadcasting the meteor shower live starting on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.</p><p>During the two-hour broadcast, host Will Gater and Slooh astronomer Bob Berman will discuss what we can learn from meteor showers and take questions from the public. Just send then a tweet with #SloohDeltaAquarids followed by your question. See the broadcast stream below.</p><h2>Origins of Comet 67P/Machholz</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>While Comet 67P/Machholz is one of the main comets thought to generate the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, that point is still debatable.<p>What is known is how strange this comet is compared to most other comets in our solar system. And its bizarre qualities are what have led scientists to think this comet was somehow flung far from its home somewhere in interstellar space only to later be caught up in our sun's gravity.</p><p>"First its orbit is about as unround as possible. This alone suggests a capture-origin, but doesn't prove it," Berman told Business Insider in an email. "But stranger still is its composition, measured spectroscopically during its close 2007 visit. This shows an almost total lack of carbon and cyanogen, very un-cometlike."</p><p>Comet 67P/Machholz also travels extremely close to the sun during its orbital path. In fact, it gets even closer than the inner-most planet Mercury.</p><p>For this reason, Berman says that this comet's odd chemical composition might be from "its repeated closer approaches to the sun [which] could have broiled away its carbon."</p><p>Check out the live <a href="http://main.slooh.com/">Slooh</a> broadcast beginning on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET:</p><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/eruption-nasa-sun-space-2015-7">NASA captured this stunning time-lapse of a massive eruption on the sun</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VxNGEydjpMt5kPmkxrXP19ThxLCfAWQG" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

How to watch tomorrow's meteor shower created by a rogue comet that could be from another solar system

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22357">NASA/ESA/STScI</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of the space object 'Oumuamua (formally known as 1I/2017 U1) flying through the solar system in late 2017.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A mysterious object called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Oumuamua</a>, the first interstellar visitor ever detected, flew through the solar system in 2017.</li><li>Most astronomers think it's a comet, though 'Oumuamua's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">identity may never be fully settled</a>.</li><li>However, interstellar objects might visibly pass by once every 5 years. By the mid-2020s, powerful new telescopes may catch up to 10 per year.</li><li>Scientists are developing space missions to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rocket</a> toward newfound interstellar objects and explore them with small robotic probes.</li><li>Laser-propelled spacecraft like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starshot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Starshot</a> might one day be a fast and inexpensive way to check out weird space objects.</li></ul><p>Without any warning, a mysterious object flew past Earth in October 2017 at a distance of about 15 million miles.</p><p>By the time astronomers discovered the cigar-shaped object, it was already careening out of the solar system at 110,000 mph - about 75 times faster than bullet shot from a gun.</p><p>Astronomers initially called it "1I/2017 U1" - with the "I" standing for interstellar, since the object's trajectory strongly suggested it came <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">from another star system</a>. It represented the first interstellar object ever detected, so they eventually decided on the Hawaiian name 'Oumuamua, meaning: "a messenger from afar, arriving first."</p><p>Several telescopes on the ground and one in space took limited observations of 'Oumuamua as it flew away. But the skyscraper-size object was too small, too fast, and detected too late to study in full. And now it's too far and too dim to observe with our current technologies.</p><p>"This one's gone forever," <a href="http://www.physics.nau.edu/~trilling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Trilling</a>, an astronomer at Northern Arizona University who led Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the object, previously told Business Insider. "We have all the data we're ever going to have about 'Oumuamua."</p><p>Scientists may never settle on the true identity of 'Oumuamua. But the latest and best guess about the object's identity is that it was an elongated, roughly 820-foot-long comet, according to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.04723" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a forthcoming study</a> in Astrophysical Journal Letters (and almost certainly not <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-object-radio-telescope-listens-signals-2017-12">an alien spacecraft</a>).</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-interstellar-space-rock-alien-spaceship-evidence-2019-1">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></em></p><p>The astronomers who discovered and scrutinized 'Oumuamua have not called it a day, though: They are already preparing for the next visit by an interstellar object.</p><p>In November 2017, Trilling and others published <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa9989" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a study</a> suggesting that current telescopes may see one such a cosmic interloper every five years. By the mid-2020s - after powerful new telescopes come online and begin <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neocam-mission-not-fully-funded-nasa-2017-1">hunting for dangerous asteroids</a> - we may spot one 'Oumuamua per year. Higher estimates suggest we could even expect up to 10 interstellar object detections per year, according to Harvard astronomer <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Avi Loeb</a>.</p><p>"With this one, we were taken fairly by surprise," <a href="https://www.eso.org/~ohainaut/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory who's worked on several studies of the object, previously told Business Insider. "With the next one, we are ready."</p><p>Hainaut was referring to observatories, but he and others are also scheming something out-of-this-world.</p><p>Hainaut says at least two teams - one based in the US and another in Europe - are developing conceptual space missions to ride out and meet a future interstellar object. He added that the proposals would be "realistically affordable," or on the order of $500 million (the price range dictated <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-new-asteroid-missions-2017-1">by NASA's Discovery program</a>).</p><p>"We had a workshop on this in October, and at the beginning of the workshop we said, 'This is impossible.' But after one week of hard work, we realized it's not impossible anymore, it's just difficult," Hainaut said. "Impossible? That's a problem. Difficult? As a first approximation, that just means expensive."</p><h2>How scientists plan to intercept an interstellar interloper</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/46259778995/">SpaceX</a></span></p><p class="caption">A Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX blasts several spacecraft into orbit on February 21, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The biggest problem with trying to explore an interstellar object up-close is uncertainty about where it'd come from, when it will appear, and how close to Earth it might get.</p><p>That's because the only data point we have is 'Oumuamua itself.</p><p>To get around this, Hainaut said one option is to have a rocket on stand-by, and launch a relatively small spacecraft (to maximize range and flexibility) once the next interstellar object appears.</p><p>"You'd have to have the spacecraft ready in the hanger and hope you have a pretty big rocket," he said.</p><p>But scrambling to launch a behemoth rocket - such as SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/falcon-heavy-spacex-epic-rocket-launch-in-person-2018-2">Falcon Heavy</a>, ULA's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-cost-industry-pricing-vs-ula-2018-2">Delta IV</a>, Blue Origin's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-origin-new-glenn-rockets-2016-9">New Glenn</a>, or just maybe NASA's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-sls-replacement-spacex-bfr-blue-origin-new-glenn-2018-11">Space Launch System</a> - may not be practical or affordable.</p><p>"The other alternative is to park the spacecraft and the upper stage of the rocket in space," Hainaut said. "You just leave it there, and when the object is discovered, you launch it."</p><p>The closest parking spot would be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-moon-distance-edge-of-outer-space-2018-5">low-Earth orbit</a>, though one of several LaGrange points - neutral points of gravity in space between Earth and its moon (pictured below)- would give scientists maximum flexibility in reaching a target.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/990529/index.html">NASA/WMAP</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of Lagrange or libration points.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Parking any current upper-stage rocket in space for months or years may be too risky, though, because the vacuum of space is an incessant torture of scorching heat, freezing cold, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-missile-shoots-down-satellite-space-debris-junk-risk-2019-3">space debris</a>, and blasts of solar <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-radiation-levels-spacex-nasa-exposure-2018-4">radiation</a>. This increases the chances an upper stage's electronics and fuel systems may stop working.</p><p>However, NASA has given ULA and Blue Origin some funding to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-tipping-point-private-space-exploration-funding-2018-8">develop advanced upper stages</a> guaranteed to last for years in space. SpaceX is also working on a durable interplanetary vehicle called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starship">Starship</a> that could survive in deep-space for a long time.</p><h2>Could we ever catch up to 'Oumuamua in deep space?</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3">Breakthrough Foundation</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of a Breakthrough Starshot "nanocraft" being propelled into seep space with a powerful laser beam.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Those are just the possibilities with current and imminent aerospace technologies, though.</p><p>A couple of decades from now, a project called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-proxima-centauri-habitable-planet-2016-8">Breakthrough Starshot</a> might provide a faster, cheaper, and wilder option.</p><p>The idea is to propel <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-sprite-spacecraft-launch-2017-7">tiny spacecraft</a> to another star system <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-laser-beam-power-2018-12">with ultra-powerful lasers</a>, perhaps at around 20% <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-fast-speed-light-travels-earth-moon-mars-nasa-2019-1">the speed of light</a>. Starshot, which was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-alpha-centauri-robots-stephen-hawking-yuri-milner-2016-4">announced in April 2016</a>, was dreamed up by Loeb at Harvard, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-death-best-quotes-2018-3">Stephen Hawking</a>, and other researchers. The project is backed by a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-proxima-centauri-habitable-planet-2016-8">Russian-American billionaire</a>.</p><p>As a test run someday, such robots could be sent to catch up to and study 'Oumuamua in deep space.</p><p>"If we had the Starshot infrastructure, it would have been trivial to chase down 'Oumuamua," Loeb told Business Insider in an email. "Even with a speed of merely a tenth of a percent of the speed of light (namely a factor of 200 smaller than the ultimate goal of Starshot) it would be possible to catch up with Oumuamua in a matter of months by sending a cell phone camera that weighs a gram."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-fast-speed-light-travels-earth-moon-mars-nasa-2019-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The speed of light is torturously slow, and these 3 simple animations by a scientist at NASA prove it</a></em></p><p>That's not to say it would be easy. By the time a Starshot nanocraft could actually launch, 'Oumuamua would be much dimmer - which means the probe would have to get pretty close to take a photo. When traveling at incredibly high speed, that's a difficult maneuver to get right.</p><p>"In my view, it makes much more sense to wait for the next interstellar object to be discovered," Loeb said. "If we catch it on its way to us, we could even contemplate a space mission that will fly by it or even land on it."</p><p>Hainaut's conceptual proposals rely on more traditional chemical rockets, but he said he'd welcome an innovative solution like Starshot.</p><p>"The Breakthrough Starshot is extremely interesting. The problem is that the laser technology that is required is far from being ready," Hainaut said. "I hope it will be one day."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-first-interstellar-object-asteroid-oumuamua-2017-11">Astronomers have discovered a bizarre-looking object that came from outside our solar system</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Mysterious space objects like 'Oumuamua will visit our solar system again. Scientists may intercept the next one with a robotic probe.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>A building-size object called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/oumuamua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Oumuamua</a> flew through the inner solar system in late 2017.</li><li>Telescopes observed the mysterious interloper, but scarce data has left questions open about the object's shape, size, and composition.</li><li>A few astronomers wonder whether it could be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/aliens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alien</a>, but 'Oumuamua is most likely a "slightly weird" asteroid, comet, or space rock.</li><li>New space missions are being dreamed up to intercept the next interstellar object that visits our solar system.</li></ul><p>In 2016, something roughly the size of a skyscraper emerged from deep space and careened toward the inner solar system.</p><p>The mysterious object flew within about 15 million miles of our planet on October 14.</p><p>But it wasn't until four days later that humanity finally spotted it in telescope data. By then, it was moving away from the sun at a speed of more than 110,000 mph. It took another week for astronomers around the globe to point every tool they could in its direction.</p><p>Astronomers initially called their unprecedented catch "1I/2017 U1," with "I" standing for interstellar - or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">from another star system</a>. The object was later dubbed 'Oumuamua, a Hawaiian name that's pronounced "oo moo-uh moo-uh" and means "a messenger from afar, arriving first."</p><p>'Oumuamua remains one of the most significant, confounding, and at times contentious astronomical discoveries in recent memory. Little is definitively known about its composition, weight, shape, or dimensions - it may be a <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/su201842" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3,300-foot-long</a> cigar, a city-block-size pancake, or something in-between.</p><p>"This one's gone forever. We have all the data we're ever going to have about 'Oumuamua," <a href="http://www.physics.nau.edu/~trilling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Trilling</a>, an astronomer at Northern Arizona University who led Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the object, told Business Insider. "Now it's trying to understand if we can tell a story. Do we know what's going on?"</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-signals-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-study-2018-10">Smart aliens might live within 33,000 light-years of Earth. A new study explains why we haven't found them yet.</a></em></p><p>Enough doubt surrounds 'Oumuamua that at least one reputable astronomer and a few of his colleagues continue to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-comet-asteroid-a2017-u1-evidence-2017-10">speculate about potential alien origins</a>. But nearly all other experts who have studied 'Oumuamua say the aliens hypothesis is extraordinarily unlikely.</p><p>Here's what we know about 'Oumuamua, why it probably isn't alien, and how astronomers are preparing for another interstellar object to unexpectedly sail through our solar system.</p><h2>How astronomers found and measured 'Oumuamua</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Researchers in 1976 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(76)90189-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that other star systems were likely ejecting big asteroids and comets and flinging them toward our solar system, suggesting we could perhaps spot some in the future.</p><p>But the most recent estimate of how often such interstellar vagabonds would pay us a visit (and be detectable) was "bleak," <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa5c8a">according to the authors of a study</a> published just months before 'Oumuamua was discovered. The odds, in fact, were low enough that practically no one was overtly looking for these space objects.</p><p>Then on October 19, 2017, Robert Weryk, a postdoctoral student at the University of Hawaii, discovered 'Oumuamua somewhat by accident.</p><p>Weryk was perusing a batch of data collected by an observatory called Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) that sits atop a mountain in Maui. The observatory scans the entire sky each night, allowing astronomers to compare fresh data to the previous evening's. Anything that's bright enough to detect and moving will thus <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1737d/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stand out</a>.</p><p>As Weryk <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/interstellar-space-rock/546371/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Atlantic</a> in November 2017, he initially thought the object was a typical asteroid. But after a glance at the previous evening's data, he realized it was unusual.</p><p>"I'd never expected to find something like this," he said.</p><p>Calculating the exact path of 'Oumuamua took about a week. The math showed it was an object from beyond - way, way beyond. Its orbit was "unbound" or loop-less, and it was making a checkmark-shaped trip through the solar system. It had entered from above the plane of the solar system, dipped close to and below the sun, and was exiting out the top.</p><p>This realization prompted Weryk, fellow astronomer Karen Meech, and others to launch a global effort to observe 'Oumuamua with as many powerful telescopes as possible before it vanished. More astronomers eventually followed suit, though with some delay.</p><p>"I was caught off-guard, and I think a lot of astronomers were, too," Trilling said. "It took a while for many of us to think, 'I should go look at it.' The delay was people thinking, 'Naw, it couldn't be from another solar system.'"</p><p>Because of this element of surprise, and the fact that <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/usa/news/eso1737/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world-class</a> <a href="https://www.gemini.edu/node/12729" target="_blank" rel="noopener">observatories</a> are scheduled months or years ahead, it took a week or more for powerful telescopes to start looking at 'Oumuamua. (Hubble didn't observe it until January 2018, just before the object vanished from sight.)</p><p>No telescope imaged it in photographic detail, though. One observatory was equipped to do so - the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico - but nature had other plans.</p><p>"Unfortunately, the Arecibo Observatory missed the opportunity to determine the actual shape of 'Oumuamua due to Hurricane Maria, really bad timing," Abel Méndez, an astrobiologist at the University of Puerto Rico, told Business Insider.</p><h2>Is it a comet, asteroid, or something else?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The observations that were made suggest 'Oumuamua has a fairly uniform surface, is relatively dark, and has a reddish color (which is not unusual for deep-space objects).</p><p>Lacking any detailed photograph of 'Oumuamua, astronomers resorted to studying its brightness as the next-best method to deduce its shape. This is because any side of an object that faces the sun will reflect light; a longer side tends to reflect more light than a shorter side because it has a greater area. Repeating changes in brightness can also betray the rough dimensions and 3D-motion of a space object.</p><p>Early calculations suggest 'Oumuamua tumbles about once every eight hours and has a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/chasing-oumuamua" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cigar-shape</a>, with a large-to-small-dimension size ratio of roughly ten to one. That is abnormal.</p><p>"The most extreme bodies we know of in the solar system are three-to-one," Trilling said.</p><p>Another peculiarity is that on its way toward interstellar space, 'Oumuamua deviated from its predicted path by about 25,000 miles, according to observations from Hubble.</p><p>If 'Oumuamua were a typical comet, this might explain its change of direction: Comets that drift close to the sun warm up, which causes internal gases to evaporate. The shooting jets of these gases can act like small rocket engines, altering the path an object travels and the way it tumbles.</p><p>In such cases, the evaporating gases form a tail behind the rock. They can also cause big chunks of a comet to break off. But no tail or break-up of 'Oumuamua was definitively seen.</p><p>There was also another surprise from the Spitzer Space Telescope: It did not detect a heat signature. The fact that Spitzer was unable to detect that heat suggests 'Oumuamua is somewhat shinier than a normal object, since less warmth being absorbed means more sunlight is getting bounced away.</p><p>Trilling said "shiny" is relative, though -'Oumuamua could be as dark as "dirty slush" in a gutter, and that would be shinier than expected.</p><p>"We're not talking about a ball of tin foil flying through space," he said.</p><p>However, an extraordinary possibility - an unnatural object - did occur to some researchers, a few of whom chose to test the idea against the limited observations.</p><h2>Why it's probably not aliens - just a 'slightly weird' rock</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p><a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Avi Loeb</a>, the chair of Harvard University's astronomy department, took <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/6-strange-facts-about-the-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the peculiarities</a> of 'Oumuamua as reason to pursue the remote possibility that 'Oumuamua might be alien in origin.</p><p>In December 2017, Loeb directed Breakthrough Listen (an effort to listen for alien signals that Loeb helps run) to point radio antennas <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-object-radio-telescope-listens-signals-2017-12">toward 'Oumuamua</a>. No alien communications were detected.</p><p>In October 2018, Loeb and a colleague wondered <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaeda8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a study</a> whether the object might have a more extreme pancake-like shape. Based on mathematical analysis, they suggested it could perhaps be as thin as a sail that could be pushed by light (also called a lightsail), which might also explain the 0.1% change in direction found by Hubble.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-laser-beam-power-2018-12">A startup is developing a 100-gigawatt laser to propel a probe to another star system. That may be powerful enough to 'ignite an entire city.'</a></em></p><p>Most recently, Loeb and an undergraduate student published a <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/aafe7c/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brief study</a> suggesting 'Oumuamua might actually have a 50-to-1 size ratio if it's cigar-shaped, or a 20-to-1 ratio if it's more of a pancake.</p><p>Loeb defends his pursuit of the idea as a valid scientific argument, given the data available. In <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/advanced-extraterrestrials-as-an-approximation-to-god/?curator=MediaREDEF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a blog post at Scientific American</a>, he wrote that humans spotting alien technology "might resemble an imaginary encounter of ancient cave people with a modern cell phone," at first interpreting it as "shiny rock" and not a "communication device."</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.eso.org/~ohainaut/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Olivier Hainaut</a>, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory, told Business Insider that Loeb's latest paper is based on a misunderstanding of brightness data from <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aab370" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a study</a> that Hainaut co-authored. Hainaut added that Loeb's conclusions "collapse" when the uncertainty of the data is taken into account. Loeb and a co-author disputed this, claiming the uncertainty is not as great as Hainaut said.</p><p>Many researchers interviewed by Business Insider also noted that because the observations of 'Oumuamua were relatively distant, limited, and filled with gaps, there's not nearly enough data to reasonably make extraordinary claims (which, as Carl Sagan once quipped, require extraordinary evidence).</p><p>Hainaut thinks the object is most likely a "slightly weird" space rock, as does Trilling.</p><p>"All of the evidence is consistent with a rock," Trilling said. "We've never seen an alien spaceship - we have no idea what that evidence would look like. So I think it's just a rock."</p><p>Trilling said he accepts the possibility, however remote, that Loeb and his colleagues' "extreme" ideas could eventually be borne out.</p><p>"I don't have any direct evidence that says it has to be a rock and it cannot an alien spacecraft," he said. "The only way to do that is to go visit it."</p><p>But for now, Trilling explained that it's most logical to side with hundreds of years of astronomical research.</p><h2>How to catch the next 'Oumuamua</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Since 'Oumuamua, astronomers have made adjustments at major observatories to allow for more rapid-turnaround observations of the next rare interstellar object that comes to town.</p><p>"With this one, we were taken fairly by surprise," Hainaut said. "With the next one, we are ready."</p><p>The research community has also reconsidered how often things like 'Oumuamua might visit the solar system. Trilling and others published <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa9989" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a study</a> suggesting that current observatories may see an interstellar interloper about once every five years. By the mid-2020s - after new telescopes come online that are designed to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neocam-mission-not-fully-funded-nasa-2017-1">look for Earth-threatening asteroids</a> - they might be spotted at a rate of once per year.</p><p>This, in turn, has led multiple groups of researchers to wonder if a small spacecraft could be readied to chase down another interstellar visitor like 'Oumuamua and study it up-close. Hainaut is part of one of the groups researching that idea.</p><p>"We had a workshop on this in October, and at the beginning of the workshop we said, 'This is impossible.' But after one week of hard work, we realized it's not impossible anymore, it's just difficult," Hainaut said. "Impossible? That's a problem. Difficult? As a first approximation, that just means expensive."</p><p>There's also a chance that, decades from now, a project called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starshot-proxima-centauri-habitable-planet-2016-8">Breakthrough Starshot</a> that Loeb is part of might resolve the question of what 'Oumuamua is and is not.</p><p>Starshot aims to propel <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-sprite-spacecraft-launch-2017-7">tiny spacecraft</a> to another star system <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/breakthrough-starshot-laser-beam-power-2018-12">with powerful lasers</a>, perhaps at around 20% <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-fast-speed-light-travels-earth-moon-mars-nasa-2019-1">the speed of light</a>. Such robots could also hypothetically be sent to catch up to 'Oumuamua in deep space.</p><p>"The Breakthrough Starshot is extremely interesting. The problem is that the laser technology that is required is far from being ready," Hainaut said. "I hope it will be one day."</p><div><div style="position:relative; padding-bottom:calc(56.25% + 44px)"></div></div><div><div style="position:relative; padding-bottom:calc(56.25% + 44px)"></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-first-interstellar-object-asteroid-oumuamua-2017-11">Astronomers have discovered a bizarre-looking object that came from outside our solar system</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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 Harvard professor is risking his reputation to search for aliens. Tech tycoons are bankrolling his quest.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Filmmakers have to get creative portraying zero-gravity and <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> travel in <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/movies">movies</a>.</li><li>"<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/star-wars">Star Wars</a>" revolutionized how space chase scenes were shot by using computerized cameras.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/cgi">CGI</a> and digital doubles helped "Gravity" and "<keyword id="10364187" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-midnight-sky">The Midnight Sky</keyword>" to create weightless movement.</li></ul><p><em>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>. </em></p><p><strong>Narrator:</strong> In this shot from 1950's "Destination Moon," these stars were actually 2,000 light bulbs from car headlights. It was probably the most realistic portrayal of space at the time, but 68 years and several real-life space missions later, "First Man" used state-of-the-art LED screens to project realistic renders of the solar system and the moon's surface, even adding a reflection on Ryan Gosling's helmet. It took decades of technical breakthroughs to get to this point, from intricate wirework and robotic cameras to CG legs floating in zero gravity.</p><p>Here's how space scenes have transformed over 120 years.</p><p>Long before humankind took their first steps on the moon, filmmakers sought to bring their stories to space. In 1902's "A Trip to the Moon," director Georges Méliès created the illusion of a capsule landing in the moon using a substitution splice, first shooting the actor playing the moon, then adding the capsule in another shot and combining the two frames.</p><p>While this iconic shot is obviously fantastical, "Destination Moon" wanted to be as scientifically accurate as possible. However, the filmmakers had both a limited scientific understanding of space and a limited toolbox for special effects. In addition to using light bulbs for the stars in deep space, the cast also used a matte painting as a backdrop with small cracks to create the illusion of perspective on the moon. But the biggest innovation at the time? Wires. To create the illusion of low gravity, director Irving Pichel attached the actors to piano wire run through a pulley system and controlled by an overhead crane. This effectively lifted the actors off the ground, but keeping the wires from showing up on camera was a lot of work. According to writer Robert Heinlein, the set lights could make the wires visible on camera during filming. If the wires were seen in the take, they'd have to start all over again. The movie also wanted to show characters moving as the ship left Earth's orbit. To create the illusion of a person walking around all sides of the ship, the crew built the set with a fixed camera and two gimbals. That way, the camera could rotate in sync with the set. It was similar to the rig that allowed Fred Astaire to famously dance on walls in 1951's "Royal Wedding." All of these innovations took a lot of time and money. As Heinlein wrote, "Realism is confoundedly expensive." Perhaps for that reason, space scenes throughout the 1950s and 1960s frequently relied on the audience's suspension of disbelief. Take this shot of a flying saucer in "Plan 9 from Outer Space." It's clearly just a toy on a string, but that would all change drastically in 1968 with "2001: A Space Odyssey."</p><p>Now that humans had actually gone to space, <keyword id="248525" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Stanley-Kubrick">Stanley Kubrick</keyword> needed to redefine what futuristic life in space would look like. And he did so by pushing the limits of visual effects. When it came to wires, Kubrick found that by simply placing the camera on the ground, the actors' bodies would naturally block the wires from view. But the zero-g illusions got much more elaborate. The team built a 38-foot-tall centrifuge that rotated at 3 miles per hour to imitate artificial gravity. Unlike the rotating set in "Destination Moon," this one had two cameras: a mounted one that moved along with the set and a dolly camera that moved with the actors. But not all the sets were gigantic. These models were much more detailed, elaborate, and closer to real NASA spacecraft at the time, thanks to Kubrick's famously obsessive attention to detail. To make the miniatures look like they were moving, the camera was driven along the track on a motorized mount around the models. This method made it possible to exactly repeat camera moves. The crew would do one pass of the Discovery, another pass of the stars, and then combine it all into one seamless shot. Kubrick basically created an early form of motion-control cameras. And these new cameras revolutionized the space saga with "<keyword id="61596" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Star-Wars">Star Wars</keyword>."</p><p>With "A New Hope," <keyword id="16674" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="George-Lucas">George Lucas</keyword> wanted to create awe-inspiring space chases and battles, and audiences could be right in the action thanks in part to a man named John Dykstra and his new camera, called the Dykstraflex. The Dykstraflex was programmed by a computer to move around the miniatures in such a way to create the illusion of speeding through space, like this imposing angle of the underbelly of a Star Destroyer or this shot during the Death Star dogfight that appears to be from a pilot's point of view. The camera's precise programming also made shots easily repeatable for seamless compositing. It's why multiple models could be shot separately and then combined during the dogfight. It's also why the Death Star really looks like it's floating up in space, when in reality this close-up was shot in a parking lot. Motion-control cameras can be seen again and again in space movies. They were used in the "Star Wars" sequels throughout the 1980s and all the way through 2014 for the practical models of "Interstellar." But all of these movies were about fictional space travel. Things needed to be a lot more realistic with "Apollo 13."</p><p>So director Ron Howard put the cast in actual zero-g for wider shots. It was the first movie ever shot on NASA's KC-135, where real astronauts trained for space conditions at the time. The plane flies up 35,000 feet in the air before plunging back to Earth. This renders all passengers weightless for 25 seconds -- no wires needed. The crew only had 25 seconds per ride to shoot, so the filmmakers broke down each scene into small chunks and then later used wires on set for close-ups. In total, the cast and crew took 612 flights, adding up to nearly four hours of weightlessness. Shooting on the Vomit Comet looks authentic, but the limited zero-g windows make it a logistical nightmare. And what do you do for shots that need to be much longer?</p><p>"Gravity" contained harrowing continuous takes in space that lasted as long as 15 minutes, making it difficult to both move and light the actors properly.</p><p>Chris Lawrence: We went to incredible lengths on the movie "Gravity" to portray microgravity or zero gravity.</p><p>Narrator: First, the crew relied on previsualized animations that showed what the movie would look like before shooting took place. Studying hours of reference footage to create the digital characters also helped them imitate weightlessness more accurately.</p><p>Chris: People do not move slowly as though they're underwater in space. That's a common misconception. If you watch those astronauts, they move really quickly, 'cause there's no air resistance.</p><p>Narrator: To tackle the sequence where a debris storm hits the characters, director Alfonso Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki invented a new technology called a light box.</p><p>Chris: We were going to run for 15 minutes without a hard cut. We had to be able to plan the lighting and have perfect continuity, because everything was going to need to sit together.</p><p>Narrator: The light box built on existing technology. Sandra Bullock and <keyword id="11804" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="George-Clooney">George Clooney</keyword> were strapped into tilt rigs while their space journey was captured by motion-control cameras. All of that was inside a box covered with LED panels that could, for example, show real images of Earth from space as the backdrop. Because it was all programmed, they could change up the lighting faster than any normal studio light, which came in handy for the scene where they're hit by space debris.</p><p>Movies like "First Man" built on the light box and went even further with LED screens. Director Damien Chazelle used a 35-foot-tall, 65-foot-wide LED screen to provide dynamic 180-degree views of space in real time. That meant the Gemini space capsule leaving Earth could be captured in-camera. And because this life-size model was motorized, the camera didn't need to fake any movements. You could even get this convincing lunar reflection on Ryan Gosling's helmet. Making the moon realistic took a lot of effort as well. Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was shot in a quarry at night that was manicured with gravel to replicate the moon's surface. Later, that footage was combined with real surface scans of the moon provided by NASA. It's the tiny details like this that really sold "First Man." Look at this shot. The extra dust that clouds each footstep was added entirely with CG.</p><p>And CGI might be the answer when it comes to truly mimicking zero-g movement.</p><p>Chris: Gravity's impossible to get away from. You just, you're constantly under it.</p><p>Narrator: Framestore made great strides in digital doubles in "The Midnight Sky," making weightlessness look more real than ever before.</p><p>Chris: You hold your limb out and swing around, you kind of feel gravity doing its thing. We were able to completely eliminate that.</p><p>Narrator: Digital doubles allowed filmmakers to conquer more challenging weightless scenes, like these wide shots of crew outside the Aether. This actor was minimally wired up on set, but his legs were swapped out with a digital pair so there was no hint of real-world gravity. Fewer wires meant they didn't have to worry about where the camera was placed, as they did in "Space Odyssey." The team also used a virtual camera system where the cinematographer referenced an iPad showing rough animated footage. By pointing it around an empty room, he could physically block out the shots. This level of planning allowed the spacewalk to feature 70 fully CG performances.</p><p>Chris: The technology has come so far in the 10 years since we did "Gravity" that you can do these things in quite a lightweight way, and it is interactive and easy enough for a director to just hold an iPad and look around the set. Narrator: The result is a series of shots where digital movements, wire stunts, and even hidden crew members lifting objects into the air all contribute to make space travel both terrifying and awe-inspiring.</p><p>Chris: So we've come a long way since "Apollo 13," and, indeed, we've come a long way since "Gravity."</p><p>Narrator: Méliès made a capsule fly so Kubrick could defy the laws of gravity so Cuarón could capture the light of the solar system. Each might seem like a small step on its own, but taken all together, it was one giant leap for cinema, one dust cloud at a time.</p>

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The bizarre interstellar object 'Oumuamua that flew through our solar system was almost definitely not aliens, a new study says

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