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"That value came out as being the same as we observe on the surface of Pluto or Triton, bodies covered in nitrogen ice." "We knew we had hit on the right idea when we completed the calculation for what albedo (how reflective the body is) would make the motion of 'Oumuamua match the observations," said Jackson, who is a research scientist and an Exploration Fellow at ASU. And since solid nitrogen ice can be seen on the surface of Pluto, it is possible that a cometlike object could be made of the same material. From there, they calculated the rocket effect, the object's mass and shape, and the reflectivity of the ices.ĭesch and Jackson found one ice in particular-solid nitrogen-that provided an exact match to all the object's features simultaneously. In all, the object was very much like a comet, but unlike any comet that had ever been observed in the solar system.ĭesch and Jackson then hypothesized that the object was made of different ices and they calculated how quickly these ices would sublimate (passing from a solid to a gas) as 'Oumuamua passed by the sun. Finally, the object lacked a detectable escaping gas, which is usually depicted visibly by a comet's tail. They also observed that while the object acquired a slight push away from the sun (a "rocket effect" common in comets as sunlight vaporizes the ices they are made of), the push was stronger than could be accounted for. In terms of size, its pancake shape was also more flattened than any other known solar system object. In terms of speed, the object entered the solar system at a velocity a bit lower than would be expected, indicating that it had not been traveling in interstellar space for more than a billion years or so. "In many ways 'Oumuamua resembled a comet, but it was peculiar enough in several ways that mystery surrounded its nature, and speculation ran rampant about what it was," said Desch, who is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration.įrom observations of the object, Desch and Jackson determined several characteristics of the object that differed from what would be expected from a comet. Their findings have been recently published in a pair of papers in the AGU Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Two Arizona State University astrophysicists, Steven Desch and Alan Jackson of the School of Earth and Space Exploration, set out to explain the odd features of 'Oumuamua and have determined that it is likely a piece of a Pluto-like planet from another solar system.