I'm not saying it's aliens

[nightdog_barks]

Ugh, another dark and dreary day, no sign of the sun and unremittingly damp. :-P

Here's another very cool science story, this time from Haaretz. You guys remember 'Oumuamua from a couple of years ago? The cosmic object that came ambling through our solar system, and everybody said "Wtf?" Well, the head of Harvard University's astronomy department thinks it was a spaceship. Specifically, a solar sail.

"The current propulsion technology doesn’t offer us the possibility to chase after 'Oumuamua. The visitor comes for dinner, goes out into the street and disappears in the dark. It’s possible we will never know what it was looking for.”

It's a really interesting article. :D

Comments

[blackmare]

You know, this ain’t Bobby Joe Williams from Arkansas who got abducted outta the pasture last July.

If he says it was aliens, who am I to argue?

[nightdog_barks]

I know, right? I gotta figure the Head of the Harvard Astronomy Department is a PRETTY SMART COOKIE, but hey, it's all theory. :D

[hannah]

Didn't you write a fic with something almost exactly that as its premise?

[nightdog_barks]

... sort of? I don't think we ever actually see the alien ship in Symbiosis, but it is about an interstellar scout/observer who comes to Earth and then disappears as mysteriously as they came.

[hannah]

Drop-off and pickup, clearly.

[silverjackal]

That is cool, and thank you for sharing it! Expert or not, though, I will still assume the fellow is wrong and it was something entirely natural, merely because there is no firm evidence otherwise. It displayed the characteristics of something natural hurtling about, and we know there are newly discovered moving bits in the galaxy all the time. Less exciting, I know, and I'm not one to think there is no alien life elsewhere, but I doubt *this* particular case as an example.

[nightdog_barks]

Oh, I know. *g* This guy was such a great interview, though! If he's still doing classroom teaching (as opposed to just being the department head), I'll bet his lectures are AWESOME. :D

[silverjackal]

In my experience department heads still teach... just not first year undergraduates. :D