
Another Interstellar ‘Visitor’ Is Headed Our Way - dchest
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/possible-interstellar-comet-headed-our-way/
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alaithea
If you didn't read all the way down, this was one of the coolest parts:

> Here's an amazing fact: The discoverer, Gennady Borisov, is an amateur
> astronomer who works as an engineer at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute.
> He makes his own telescopes to hunt for comets and has discovered seven of
> them along with several NEOs. He recently completed a new 0.65-meter
> telescope, the instrument he used to discover the new object.

~~~
imhoguy
And the other cool thing is the comet publicly named after himself
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2019_Q4_(Borisov)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2019_Q4_\(Borisov\))
Great hobby!

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bjelkeman-again
So imagine it was actually Rama (I1, Oumuamua) and Rama II (I2). We’d be
sitting here watching them zip by and not be able to do anything other than
watch longingly at them. I suppose we’d get a perspective change on life in
the Universe. Maybe it would increase space budgets.

~~~
cgriswald
If I were designing Rama, I’d probably make the craft change directory and/or
slow down on entry into a star system. This would indicate its artificial
nature, give inhabitants a better chance at intercept, and protect it from
collision.

~~~
SECProto
Slowing down or changing direction (in space) is equally as much work as
accelerating the craft in the first place.

~~~
0xffff2
You don't need to slow/change direction by very much to demonstrate a very
high probability of artificial origin.

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api
My favorite wild hypothesis about Oumuamua is that it was a spent deceleration
stage from a multi-stage interstellar fusion rocket. Maybe another spent stage
is headed our way. If it's at a lower velocity it would support that
conjecture. Eventually the actual payload would arrive. :)

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SketchySeaBeast
While that's a fun hypothesis, I think we should remain objective and assume
it's probably just a space rock. I mean, in that case you could also assume
it's the excreta of some sort of high energy projectile that is currently
aligned to collide with Earth, but that doesn't buy us much more than
unfounded dread.

~~~
api
If it were an interstellar kinetic weapon it would not be decelerating, as the
goal would be to smash us with as much kinetic energy as possible. :)

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jschwartzi
Sorry, it's not a weapon. It's just a molecule designed to hijack self-
replication to construct a wormhole generator.

~~~
plutonorm
So that's space viruses that contain DNA which infects any existing life.
Causing the organism to change form into a wormhole generator, which then
connects to all the other worm hole generators made by the alien designers? So
they can just rock up at a random places because they turned the inhabitants
into star gates? That's an awesome idea!

~~~
jschwartzi
It's the plot for The Expanse.

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Dirlewanger
Makes me wonder what other objects passed by us eons ago, and then due to
other objects far out in their orbit that disrupted them just enough so that
the next time they come our way, they're on a collision course with Earth...

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mxuribe
Hearing about things like this is so inspirational for me. Such a wondrous
thing to behold! Kudos to Gennady Borisov!

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aey
How is this possible? If space outside the solar system is empty, then the
probability of 2 extrasolar comets should be 0 during my lifetime.

~~~
mcbits
It's possible because "empty" is a relative term and the solar system is big.
Hell, a whole 'nother star system passed through the solar system (if we
include the Oort cloud) just 1,000 lifetimes ago.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholz%27s_Star](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholz%27s_Star)

~~~
GuiA
Man, it’s pretty crazy that it passed in the solar system, but its peak
apparent magnitude was 11. Space is weird.

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mc32
Yes, another inanimate “visitor”. What’s with these headlines? It just doesn’t
stop.

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spuz
What do you mean?

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captn3m0
It’s a rock.

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PhasmaFelis
A rock can be a visitor. Figurative language exists.

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The_rationalist
It introduce slightly harmful ambiguity for no other reason than clickbait.

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SketchySeaBeast
I think it invokes benign imagery, not the promise of "war of the worlds"
panic. It's not like it's "Top 10 reasons this interstellar visitor is coming
to earth - number 6 will surprise you!"

