Great links, Pierre! You are the link specialist around here. :~)

Risen ape, Too Much Coffee Man and now link specialist... I'm not sure the picture is getting prettier !

But to understand what you guys are talking about, you gotta do what you gotta do lol

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Chris, you are making Proof out of Logic, by just being dubious.

Forget what I said here, for back at the Scientific Method in another tab, for the way we could be doing research, by sometimes rejecting, for also accepting,
and for this, it could be still about a Method, except for the other usual thing of making it just science for curiosity, when it could also be the investigative mind.

Except for a still ongoing story, of course.

you gotta do what you gotta do lol

Yeah more coffee!




I only found out the other day that you pronounce Oumuamua as "Oh - Moo er - Moo er" (apparently)

I doubt it. There is no 'r' sound in the Hawaiian language. Certain accents in English tend to add an 'r' sound at the ends of some words otherwise ending in an 'a' sound, as in: 'Marthar' for 'Martha'.

https://www.howtopronounce.com/oumuamua/

She speaks very fast, Michel ! Is that Too Much Coffee Woman's version ? :)

I suggest this one from an Hawaian native (and astronomy expert) :

Pronunciation of 'Oumuamua, the name of the first interstellar asteroid discovered.
Audio by Ka'iu Kimura, Director of 'Imiloa Astronomy Canter, Hilo, Hawaii.
https://soundcloud.com/roy-gal-787702179/oumuamua-pronunciation

For the challenges' loving Chris: Champs Élysées
https://fr.forvo.com/word/champs-%C3%A9lys%C3%A9es/#fr

Now for anyone who visited the previous links :

Je vais prendre une aspirine car j'ai mal à la tête (I'll take an aspirin 'cause I have a headache)
https://fr.forvo.com/phrase/je_vais_prendre_une_aspirine_car_j%27ai_mal_%C3%A0_la_t%C3%AAte/#fr

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Are Fast Radio Bursts Signs of Intelligent Life? Featuring Dr. Avi Loeb.
Dr. Avi Loeb is one of the author from Harvard that suggest Oumuamua is a extraterrestrial artifact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-spgxnyIto

Fast Radio Bursts, or FRBs are blasts of radio energy that hit Earth from outside the milky way galaxy, lasting only milliseconds before they disappear. Dr. Avi Loeb of Harvard University and Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discusses the possibility that they could be leakage from highly powerful lasers pushing on light sails or other signs of advanced extraterrestrial intelligence. As well as the interstellar object known as Oumuamua and if it is a solar sail or alien probe. Avi Loeb also discusses what are the most dangerous and immediate threats to life on earth from space, asteroid collisions, solar flares including the carrington event, and black holes.

As for me I think Avi Loeb is rambling...

I think Oumuamua could be a great subject for a space movie, provided one finds a Stanley Kubrick to direct it. I have read, in Freeman J. Dyson book "Disturbing the universe" a description of the visit Dyson made to the Kubrick studios during the making of the film. Dyson should have appeared in the movie as a scientist next to a computer, but his part was cut because the computer, which was computing pay checks, made too strong a noise.
I suggest the reading of this book to anybody, also because of a portrait of Richard Feynman. who was a Dyson friend.
Tullio

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Whatever:)
UC Berkeley SETI has retweeted articles about Oumuamua and also many more interesting stuff about searching for intelligent life beyond Earth.
https://twitter.com/BerkeleySETI
Like Evidence of aliens? What to make of research and reporting on ‘Oumuamua, our visitor from space http://theconversation.com/evidence-of-aliens-what-to-make-of-research-and-reporting-on-oumuamua-our-visitor-from-space-106711

In an article of Scientific American whose Italian version I have read in Le Scienze online magazine, prof.Abraham Loeb of Harvard University makes a list of things which he does not understand about Oumuamua. Although he does not say it explicitly, one has the impression that he thinks of it as an artificial object, not a natural one. Made by whom?
Tullio

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In an article of Scientific American whose Italian version I have read in Le Scienze online magazine, prof.Abraham Loeb of Harvard University makes a list of things which he does not understand about Oumuamua. Although he does not say it explicitly, one has the impression that he thinks of it as an artificial object, not a natural one. Made by whom?
Tullio

That was the impression I received, also. It seems an impressive list, taken all together, and considering the high repute of its author. I don't think this particular piece of writing has been linked in this thread before, so here it is:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/6-strange-facts-about-the-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua/

I like his Sherlock Holmes quote “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” :)
And he also say "However, to validate an exotic artificial origin for ‘Oumuamua, we need more data. As Carl Sagan said, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”"
Are there any extraordinary evidences?
So far it seems to me it's only speculations by Loeb and he knows it.
We have to wait for the next time when the next extrastellar visitor comes here...

https://phys.org/news/2018-12-radio-artificial-emissions-oumuamua.html

A radio search for artificial emissions from 'Oumuamua
December 5, 2018, SETI Institute

It's the first time a visitor from another star system has been seen nearby. But what is it? An asteroid, a comet … or an alien artifact?
Scientists at the SETI Institute have attempted to address this question by using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to observe 'Oumuamua when it was about 170 million miles away, or slightly less than the diameter of Earth's orbit. The intention was to measure artificial radio transmissions which, if found, would be strong evidence that this object is not simply a rock tossed into space by a random gravitational slingshot interaction that occurred in its home star system.

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Last year, an enigmatic object named Oumuamua startled astronomers when it came streaking past the sun, giving humanity its first close-up look at an object from beyond our solar system. This year, the interstellar visitor did something even more remarkable: It made it respectable to talk about alien spaceships.

The turning point came in November, when Avi Loeb, the head of the astronomy department at Harvard University, co-wrote a paper saying that Oumuamua is so unusual that scientists should consider the possibility that it’s not a far-out comet or asteroid, as his colleagues assumed, but rather an artificial structure.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/how-oumuamua-mystery-shook-search-space-aliens-ncna950991

more alien hype.

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1st Interstellar Visitor 'Oumuamua Is Actually Not That Special
SEATTLE — A cigar-shaped space rock named 'Oumuamua caused quite a stir when it became the first interstellar visitor discovered in our solar system. Is it an asteroid, a comet or an alien spacecraft? While astronomers continue to work on answering these big questions, one thing has become certain: 'Oumuamua probably isn't that special.

https://www.space.com/43015-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua-not-that-special.html

2 sides to every story. Then there is the truth.

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Yes, it's reasonable, and has been for quite some time, to expect interstellar objects to pass through our solar system from time to time. We're finally getting good enough observations that we can expect to start seeing some of these. None of that justifies placing Oumuamua definitely into a general class of interstellar comets and asteroids ( space rocks) too quickly.

The peculiar shape, motion, albedo, and acceleration of this object mark it as exceptional and, just possibly, artificial, rather than natural. The SETI projects Breakthrough Listen and the SETI Institute apparently thought so, too. They both scrutinized Oumuamua for intelligent radio signals, on a number of occasions during its recent passage through the inner solar system.

The gift that keeps giving ^^

"We Don't Know Therefore Aliens": Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb Defends - Again - Hypothesis That Asteroid 'Oumuamua Was Alien Probe https://futurism.com/alien-probe-harvard-astronomer-oumuamua (no paywall)

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Another link .
What is ‘Oumuamua: Harvard Professor Avi Loeb defends his proposal it is an alien probe
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/what-is-oumuamua-harvard-professor-avi-loeb-defends-his-proposal-it-is-an-alien-probe/news-story/c6f197444eecd95863746a9b98653ead
Perhaps Avi Loeb should learn of scientific methods and don't speculate so much.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that essentially states that simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones. When presented with competing hypotheses to solve a problem, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions. The idea is attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher and theologian.

To me it seems that Avi Loeb does the opposite, choosing the most complex instead.

“ ‘Wild speculation’ is still spot on in my opinion,” says Monash University astrophysicist Michael Brown. “An artificial origin isn’t ruled out by the data, but given a natural explanation is consistent with the data, the natural explanation has to be preferred.”

Another link .
What is ‘Oumuamua: Harvard Professor Avi Loeb defends his proposal it is an alien probe
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/what-is-oumuamua-harvard-professor-avi-loeb-defends-his-proposal-it-is-an-alien-probe/news-story/c6f197444eecd95863746a9b98653ead

Therein lies a video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKm26WtYXgI where Dr Loeb explains why thinking out of the box is an important driver for true innovation. Now I think this interesting scientist is just having fun pushing buzz buttons in the media in order to popularize science and increase the public interest toward those fascinating topics and issues. I just hope he measures the impact this strategy will have regarding his university's reputation and standing :)

Perhaps Avi Loeb should learn of scientific methods and don't speculate so much.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that essentially states that simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones. When presented with competing hypotheses to solve a problem, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions. The idea is attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher and theologian.

To me it seems that Avi Loeb does the opposite, choosing the most complex instead.

“ ‘Wild speculation’ is still spot on in my opinion,” says Monash University astrophysicist Michael Brown. “An artificial origin isn’t ruled out by the data, but given a natural explanation is consistent with the data, the natural explanation has to be preferred.”

Spot on, and worth reiterating.

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Occam's Razor specifies the simplest explanation which accommodates all the data. In the case of Oumuamua, that data includes:

1.) A length to width ratio of 10 to 1, and perhaps greater, for which no persuasive formation scenario has been offered.

2.)An original velocity nearly equal to that of the average of nearby stars, despite the fact that Oumuamua was supposed to have been violently ejected from its star system.

3.) An apparent reflectivity 10 times that of asteroids and comets with which we are familiar.

4. ) Anomalous accelleration, still not satisfactorily explained, as it departed from the inner solar system.

Taken together, these allow for the possibility that Oumuamua is an artificial , rather than a natural object. Dr. Loeb has never maintained that the case for an artificial object has been proven. If other, less responsible sources of information have misquoted him, or misrepresented his position on this point, he can scarcely be blamed for that.

The observed Oumuamua data is not enough to prove anything really.
Only that is an object from some other solar system.
True that it has some weird properties like the length to width ratio of 10 to 1, velocity, reflectivity and anomalous acceleration.
The problem starts when Loeb starts speculating and say things like it "could" be artifical.
Of course it can. But without more data you cannot draw that conclusion.