I strongly suspect that an innate instinct for self-preservation will save many extraterrestrial, intelligent species from destroying themselves. One hopes the same goes for ourselves. The motive for self-preservation seems a given for any species, on any world, considering what we know about biological evolution, and the struggle to survive.

Oumuamua Not a Spaceship, but Remains a Mystery to Scientists
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/oumuamua-interstellar-object-solar-system/2019/07/01/id/922844/

Scientists have determined that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to enter the solar system, is not a spaceship despite not knowing much about it, Fox News reports.

The object, which appears to be a large, oblong rock, was first seen in the solar system in October 2017, though it only remained in the solar system for about three weeks. Some of the data scientists captured from Oumuamua suggested that it had an unusual composition and seemed to accelerate as it traveled.

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As long as the acceleration of Oumuamua, as it left the inner solar system, remains unexplained, it seems of lesser importance or even beside the point to speculate about the origin of the object. In any case, such speculations do not rule out any hypotheses, including ones based on extraterrestrial intelligence.

What is the point of claiming Oumuamua was a comet-like object from another star system, flung our way by an encounter with a larger object there? It accelerated, even though no tail was seen. Nor was Omumamua seen to change its rotation, as it would have been expected to do, if thrust from a cometary tail had been the cause of its acceleration.

Study* Sees ‘Oumuamua as a Natural Object https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2019/07/02/study-sees-oumuamua-as-a-natural-object/
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* The natural history of ‘Oumuamua | Nature Astronomy
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0816-x.epdf?author_access_token=4zHYVLQ-MQtZ_Im569C7T9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PUChWO1FczuBKeLkJ2kL3RJ5aXoHjrI6l8CFRV_BkB1Ghq88lkPF_hAnr9iFiY1AzOybEDRfN7FNEXMtiZLQioJUQbyyjqxZkNnTdowf259w%3D%3D

[from the study]
Alien technology ?
The idea of ‘Oumuamua as alien technology has been advocated in a series of papers. The authors argue that the dimensions needed to explain the observed solar radiation pres-sure are consistent with a ‘solar sail’. While this fits some aspects of the observations — the basic idea of ‘Oumuamua having a highly flattened shape was previously considered — it appears unable to explain other key aspects of the observations, and some arguments in favour of this hypothesis are simply wrong.The key argument against the solar-sail hypothesis is ‘Oumuamua’s light-curve amplitude. For a solar sail to cause the observed non-gravitational acceleration, it needs to remain properly oriented towards the Sun. However, to yield the observed brightness variations, its orientation would need to be varying as viewed from Earth. Furthermore, since the actual dimensions of the solar sail would be >10:1, the orientation as viewed from Earth would need to be very nearly edge on, and remain so throughout the observations despite viewing geometry changes. It has not been shown that an orientation exists that can achieve all of these constraints imposed by the observational data. Furthermore, as discussed earlier, the shape of ‘Oumuamua’s light curve, with broad maxima and narrow minima, is consistent with an elongated ellipsoid.The claim that ‘Oumuamua must be at least ten times ‘shinier’ than all Solar System asteroids to make the Spitzer Space Telescope data consistent with the ground-based observations is incorrect. The Spitzer observations are consistent with geometric albedos 0.01 ≤ pv ≤ 0.5 (ref. 3), with a most likely albedo of pv ~ 0.1. Comets have geometric albedos of pv = 0.02–0.07, carbonaceous and silicate asteroids have pv = 0.05–0.21, and the most reflective asteroids have pv ~ 0.5 (refs. 75,76). Thus ‘Oumuamua’s measured reflectivity of about 0.1 is entirely consistent with normal Solar System small bodies.Finally, it was argued that ‘Oumuamua was deliberately sent towards Earth based on its ‘unusual’ kinematics and presumed scarcity. While provocative, this argument is baseless. First, ‘Oumuamua’s trajectory is consistent with predictions21 for detect-able inactive interstellar objects. Second, the measured number density cannot be claimed to be at odds with expectations because of our ignorance of the size distribution of interstellar objects.Thus, we find no compelling evidence to favour an alien explana-tion for ‘Oumuamua.

The article concludes:

" All report anticipating results from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which comes online in 2022 and may give us more interstellar objects of the same kind, allowing a deeper and perhaps less controversial analysis. “In the next 10 years, we expect to begin seeing more objects like ‘Oumuamua. The LSST will be leaps and bounds beyond any other survey we have in terms of capability to find small interstellar visitors,” says Knight. “We may start seeing a new object every year. That’s when we’ll start to know whether ‘Oumuamua is weird, or common. If we find 10-20 of these things and ‘Oumuamua still looks unusual, we’ll have to reexamine our explanations.”

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

It appears that cooler heads have finally prevailed. Sad, in a way, I was hoping it was manufactured.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

It appears that cooler heads have finally prevailed. Sad, in a way, I was hoping it was manufactured.

Sad indeed, until I suddenly realized to my utter relief that it meant this interstellar asteroid probably wasn't a probe belonging to a Vogon intergalactic highway construction fleet routinely mapping a future hyperspace express route in our general direction.

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Even as a natural object, it would have been so fascinating to get a sample and who knows, perhaps find biological cells or fossils. It's a real shame we spotted it too late to have any chance of catching up with it.

I really hope the LSST will give us other opportunities.

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Gazing at the skies, hoping for contact... Unlikely, but it would be such a fantastic opportunity to learn.

My alternative profile

Much ado about nothing

International team agrees on a natural origin for ?Oumuamua - Astrobiology Magazine 
https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/international-team-agrees-on-a-natural-origin-for-%ca%bboumuamua/
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/oumuamua_natural/

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Construction of the Thirty Meters Telescope on the top of Mauna Kea has started on July 15 after a 4 years hold. Let's hope it will be ready for the next Oumuamua.
Tullio

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Construction of the Thirty Meters Telescope on the top of Mauna Kea has started on July 15 after a 4 years hold. Let's hope it will be ready for the next Oumuamua.
Tullio

Not if the Hawaiian deity Wākea has any say in the matter, alas (Wākea is mute and invisible -invisible and non-existent being very similar, of course- , but the people who claim to speak in his name are not...)

Thirty Meter Telescope Set to Begin Construction - Sky & Telescope - July 11, 2019
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/thirty-meter-telescope-beginning-construction/

Hawaii: Mauna Kea protests rage against Thirty Meter Telescope - July 17, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/15/hawaii-mauna-kea-protests-rage-against-thirty-meter-telescope/1739657001/

Controversial telescope to be built on Mauna Kea in Hawaii  - June 20, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/20/controversial-telescope-built-mauna-kea-hawaii/1519270001/

The Heart of the Hawaiian Peoples' Arguments Against the Telescope on Mauna Kea | Smithsonian - 2015/04/23 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/heart-hawaiian-people-arguments-arguments-against-telescope-mauna-kea-180955057/

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

There are now 14 telescopes on Mauna Kea. Either you destroy them all or accept a new one.
Tullio

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Cigar shaped... Come on it is Gracho Marx's best joke on the Human Race!

However, :) , could that object be under effect of a distant gravity? It may not have even seen the local gravity; just the Sun's gravity.
So Sling shot it did then it picked up a boost from the local gravity.

Too bad we didn't piggyback some sort of "unit" on it's surface! A camera perhaps and a transmitter!

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ᴡᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴇsᴀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀsᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ ɪs ғɪɴɪᴛᴇ ʏᴇᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ɪs.

There are now 14 telescopes on Mauna Kea. Either you destroy them all or accept a new one.
Tullio

Native people trying to defend their culture and we are still saying progress comes first.
I'm just pointing out that it is still a current event.

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ᴡᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴇsᴀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀsᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ ɪs ғɪɴɪᴛᴇ ʏᴇᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ɪs.

In Italy the people of Val di Susa protest again a railway tunnel connecting Torino to Lyon with the sam justification. They do not protest against trailer trucks running on the autostrada emitting tons of Diesel exaust gases. This seems illogical to me . They should protest against the autostrada, but they do not. There are already 13 telescopes on Mauna Kea.
Tullio

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Logic goes out of the minds of many protestors......

(One "greeny" I know runs a 50 year-old banger that does <10mpg on petrol, burns engine oil at the rate of about a pint every hundred miles, emitting loads of NOx, particulates and HC then rants at me for having a small diesel car that does >60mpg, burns virtually no oil (zero drop in oil level in 3500 miles), passes Euro-5 and probably Euro-6(*) for emissions with a fair margin.)



(* The same engine does pass Euro-6, but because my car is pre-2018 it cannot qualify)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?