The mystery behind the Oumuamua “alien spacecraft” comet has been solved https://t.co/I3QA7N73xG pic.twitter.com/L28lR40W5u
— TIME (@TIME) March 24, 2023
Previously: Alien Hoax: Pentagon Officials Say Alien Mothership Could be Sending Small Probes to Earth
Oh, the alien mothership was fake?
That’s a big surprise, but I’m sure all the rest of those alien hoaxes Tucker Carlson is constantly shilling are really real.
The quirky comet ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object found visiting our solar system, has been the subject of fascination since being spotted in 2017, including its curious acceleration as it hurtled away from the sun.
Hypotheses were floated in light of its unexpected behavior, including fleeting speculation that it might actually have been an alien spacecraft. A new study has offered a more sober explanation – that ‘Oumuamua’s speed-up was due to the release of hydrogen gas as the comet warmed up in the sunlight.
‘Oumuamua (pronounced oh-MOO-uh-MOO-uh) lacks the tail of gas and dust characteristic of many comets. It was previously described as being cigar-shaped but now is thought to resemble a rocky pancake. Smaller than originally estimated, it is now pegged at approximately 375 feet (115 meters) by 365 feet (111 meters), with a thickness of about 60 feet (19 meters).
Researchers said it appears that ‘Oumuamua was born like many other comets as what is called a planetesimal – a small object formed in the early stages of planet formation – and was essentially a large, icy space rock.
After it was somehow ejected from its solar system of origin, they said, the comet’s chemistry changed as it was bombarded by high-energy radiation while venturing through interstellar space. This converted some of the comet’s ice – frozen water – into hydrogen gas that was trapped within the rest of its ice.
‘Oumuamua then was warmed up as it passed through our inner solar system, causing the comet’s ice structure to rearrange and releasing the trapped hydrogen gas – giving ‘Oumuamua a little bit of a kick as it headed away from the sun. The release of this hydrogen in a process called outgassing would not cause a visible tail.
“The key finding is that ‘Oumuamua may have started as a water-rich icy planetesimal broadly similar to solar system comets. This model can explain the strange behavior of ‘Oumuamua without needing to resort to any exotic physics or chemistry,” said University of California, Berkeley astrochemist Jenny Bergner, lead author of the research published this week in the journal Nature.
“The simplest explanation, and exactly what we would expect for an interstellar comet, fits all of the data with no fine-tuning,” said study co-author Darryl Seligman, a postdoctoral fellow in planetary science at Cornell University.
At any point, the media could start saying aliens are real, and the US population would gobble it up like a virus hoax or a Ukrainian democracy.
Tucker Carlson believes in gay marriage, “spy balloons,” and UFOs – all because the the US government, which he is ostensibly opposed to, told him to believe in these things.
“This is real! It’s the Department of Defense, dude!” pic.twitter.com/mgLp17HdNP
— Andrew Anglin (@WorldWarWang) March 16, 2023