We are still trying to solve the mystery of ‘Oumuamua ESO / M. Kornmesser
Our first view of a rock from beyond our solar system was fleeting. Astronomers spotted the object, later called 鈥極umuamua, in October 2017, and it was quickly too distant for Earth-based telescopes to spot.
In late November 2017,聽researchers pointed the Spitzer Space Telescope towards where 鈥極umuamua should have been and stared for more than 30 hours. It saw nothing.
Immediately, the researchers wondered whether that was because of 鈥極umuamua鈥檚 strange acceleration – astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope had found that it wasn鈥檛 just passively…
