Another potential interstellar object discovered

Interesting! Interstellar objects are rare or we just start to see them when they come close to us? (to our planetary system)

But anyway, if this is as strange as the first one, we may detect it from sudden changes in world politics...

They should take a closer look this time, maybe send up a rocket and greet it.

Jeez how many interstellar bodies have we discovered lately? Is this thing in our solar system yet? [Sorry if that's a dumb question).

I remember only awhile back the oblong thing that was tumbling thru our area.. first interplanetary thing discovered. So wow, theyre finding more?

I wonder if they sent radio signals to the first one

It may also not actually be in a hyperbolic orbit. With only a couple weeks worth of observations we have only seen this object over a very short arc of its orbit, so many possible orbits still fit the data reasonably well. One such possibility is that it's a normal, roughly parabolic orbit (eccentricity close to 1) but non-gravitational acceleration from outgassing is very strong for this comet and pushing it around more than most comets. If that's the case it means it originated in our solar system and strong jets of material from being heated by the sun are creating higher residuals when calculating the trajectory based on a purely gravitational orbit, making the trajectory look unusual. Bill Gray is an expert in orbit determination and here is his take:
[link to groups.yahoo.com (secure)]

Reaaallllyy interesting twitter thread here, echoing many of those thoughts:
[link to twitter.com (secure)]
The size and brightness would seem to be extremely rare for an interstellar object, making that conclusion seem unlikely. Forcing an orbital solution with a parabolic orbit requires non-gravitational acceleration that is much larger than what has been seen in the past with comets. He even jokes that maybe it has a rocket engine on it. So the possibilities are bad data (unlikely, not impossible), interstellar object, or a propelled alien spaceship resembling a comet (ok not really, but it was jokingly suggested).

Great thread Astro.

However I take issue with the above in bold, how can we know what is typical for interstellar objects when we have a previous sample size of 1 - omuramura

A little bit presumptuous don't you think?

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No that's actually exactly why it's not presumptuous. The size and brightness are in line with comets that we have been able to readily discover for decades. If hyperbolic interstellar objects of this size and brightness were a common occurrence we would already know about it because we would be seeing them on a regular basis. The fact that we don't, the fact that this is only the second interstellar object discovered, and the fact that it was discovered by an amateur astronomer and isn't particularly dim for newly discovered comet says that this is very rare and/or unusual. You have to understand that when we talk about these things we are talking about the nature of our solar neighborhood, not the galaxy in general or what other solar systems may experience.

They should take a closer look this time, maybe send up a rocket and greet it.

I wonder if it sent any back!

Our new overlords have a telepathy helmet. This helmet emits so much power that it displaces your own thought patterns with its commands.
When Overlord Gorakk arrives in orbit he only need to don this helmet and give the first command. Every brain bigger than a fruit fly's will instantly receive the transmission and be helpless to resist.

Enjoy the new paradigm, some of you shall work in Gorrak's gold mines with great enthusiasm.
Some of you will be brought to the pens as food.
Either way, resistance is futile!