Investigating the Origins of ‘Oumuamua the ‘Space Cigar’

New research has uncovered the origins of ‘Oumuamua — the first interstellar object spotted roaming within our solar system — implying there may be many more objects in the cosmos like the so-called ‘space cigar.’

The interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua caused quite a stir when it was first when spotted by astronomers on the 19th of October 2017. Not only did this excitement arise from the fact that it was a visitor from outside the solar system, but some also from the fact that the object — officially designated 1I/2017 U1 — possessed completely unexpected qualities for such body. The most striking of these features — an extremely unusual shape, not expected for an asteroid or comet, that resulted in it being nicknamed the ‘space cigar.’

Its elongated shape and other peculiarities led to speculation that ‘Oumuamua could be some form of an alien object, with even wild suggestions of a probe or ship lurking beneath its rocky exterior thrown around. Whilst the absence of any unexpected radio waves from the object quickly to these speculations to rest, there was clearly still a mystery to be solved regarding where ‘Oumuamua had come from and how it had formed.

New research suggests a formation mechanism for ‘Oumuamua, which though more naturalistic than suggestions of construction by alien engineers, is…