Latest news with #Pan-STARRS1
Hans India
6 days ago
- Science
- Hans India
What is Oumuamua? 6 Fascinating Facts About the First Interstellar Visitor to Our Solar System
In 2017, astronomers made a groundbreaking discovery: the first known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Named 'Oumuamua—a Hawaiian word meaning 'a messenger from afar arriving first'—this mysterious object has intrigued scientists and the public alike ever since. Here are six key facts about this cosmic visitor. 1. Discovery That Changed Astronomy Oumuamua was detected on October 19, 2017, by the University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS1 telescope. Officially designated 1I/2017 U1 by the International Astronomical Union, it was first classified as an asteroid before further analysis revealed behavior more akin to a comet, due to its unexpected acceleration. 2. Unusual Shape and Speed Oumuamua is estimated to be up to 400 meters long and unusually elongated—possibly ten times longer than it is wide. Its reddish hue is similar to many distant solar system objects. What stunned astronomers further was its rapid rotation every 7.3 hours and dramatic brightness variations. It was clocked moving at a staggering speed of 196,000 miles per hour (87.3 km/s). 3. A Dry, Mysterious Surface Unlike typical comets, Oumuamua displayed no visible gas or dust, which left astronomers puzzled. Its dry, metallic or rocky surface lacked the comet-like tail typically seen in icy bodies, leading researchers to suggest it had been bombarded by cosmic rays for millions of years during its interstellar journey. 4. Anomalous Acceleration After its closest approach to the Sun on September 9, 2017, Oumuamua began accelerating in a way that couldn't be fully explained by gravity alone. This unexpected movement sparked debate over its true nature—was it a comet, an asteroid, or something entirely different? Though it entered from the direction of the Lyra constellation, its origin remains unknown. 5. Natural Object—or Alien Tech? Some experts, most notably Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, suggested Oumuamua could be a piece of alien technology, such as a light sail. While this theory captured the public imagination, the dominant scientific consensus holds that it is a natural object—perhaps a fragment of a hydrogen ice body or a 'dark comet' unlike any seen before. 6. A Fleeting Visitor with a Long Legacy After briefly visiting the inner solar system, Oumuamua is now heading toward the constellation Pegasus, having already passed Mars's orbit by late 2017. It's expected to exit the solar system entirely by 2038. Scientists believe such interstellar objects may pass through our solar system roughly once a year, but most remain undetected due to their small size and speed.
Time of India
29-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Why China is going behind the asteroids with its Tianwen-2 Mission
China has launched its much-anticipated Tianwen-2 mission , marking a significant milestone in its growing ambitions for deep space exploration. The spacecraft successfully lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on 28 May 2025. Its objective is to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and later travel to a distant comet. This mission highlights China's increasing capability in planetary science and space technology. Scientists hope the mission will shed light on the origins of celestial bodies and the early solar system, while also enhancing China's standing in the global space community. Target of Tianwen-2 Mission — A quasi-satellite with lunar hints The primary target of Tianwen-2 is 469219 Kamo'oalewa (also known as 2016 HO3), a small and unusual asteroid discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii. It belongs to a rare category called quasi-satellites, which orbit the Sun but stay relatively close to Earth, influenced by its gravity. This unique orbit creates the illusion that Kamo'oalewa is orbiting Earth. What has intrigued scientists most is that its reflected light spectrum closely resembles that of lunar rocks, suggesting it may be a fragment from the Moon. Importance of China's Tianwen-2 Mission The Tianwen-2 mission places China among a select group of nations, including the United States and Japan, that have succeeded in asteroid sample-return missions. However, China's objectives go beyond technical achievement. Its mission addresses several scientific and strategic goals: Understanding planetary origins: Sampling a quasi-satellite may reveal how such objects formed and evolved. Developing new technology: Tianwen-2 will test both "touch-and-go" and "anchor-and-attach" methods to collect asteroid material. Improving planetary defence: Studying near-Earth objects could help future efforts to detect and deflect hazardous asteroids. Enhancing national prestige: Successful missions demonstrate China's growing capabilities and leadership in space exploration. Beyond the asteroid: A double-destination journey Once Tianwen-2 delivers the asteroid samples to Earth in 2027, it will continue its mission. Using Earth's gravity for a slingshot manoeuvre, the probe will set course for a second target: comet 311P/PANSTARRS. This object exhibits both asteroid-like and comet-like characteristics, offering a rare opportunity to study the transition between the two. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at 311P around 2035 and will carry out extensive observations using cameras, spectrometers, particle analysers, radar instruments and a magnetometer. The mission may provide clues about the origin of Earth's water and other vital compounds. Broader vision behind China's Tianwen-2 Mission Tianwen-2 follows China's successful Tianwen-1 Mars mission and precedes the upcoming Tianwen-3, which aims to return samples from Mars. Later, Tianwen-4 will explore the Jupiter system and possibly Uranus. These missions are part of a long-term vision positioning China as a leading space power by the middle of this century. With Tianwen-2, China is not simply gathering rock samples. It is pursuing deeper knowledge, advancing its scientific capabilities and strengthening its role in international space exploration. The asteroid's secrets, locked away for billions of years, may help to understand how our planet, its Moon and the solar system itself came to be.
Indian Express
25-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Why China's upcoming Tianwen-2 mission is significant
China will launch its first mission to survey and sample a near-Earth asteroid this week. Known as the Tianwen-2 mission, the probe will investigate an asteroid called 469219 Kamo'oalewa, which orbits the Sun at a distance relatively close to Earth. If successful, the mission will place China in a group of a handful of countries — including the United States and Japan — which have been able to sample asteroids and return the samples to Earth successfully. 'This is an ambitious mission to explore a fascinating object,' astrophysicist Amy Mainzer of the University of California, Los Angeles, told the journal Science. Here is a look at the mission, the Kamo'oalewa asteroid, and why China wants to investigate it. Kamo'oalewa was discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakalā in Hawaii. It is one of just seven asteroids that fall into a little-understood class known as quasi-satellites of Earth — satellites that orbit the Sun, but because of their close distance to Earth, they are gravitationally influenced by the planet. The asteroid 'travels in a highly elliptical solar orbit and appears to Earth-bound observers to be alternately leading and trailing Earth in its more circular orbit. This gives the impression the asteroid orbits Earth,' according to a report in Science. Quasi-satellites are known to shift their orbits over time. For instance, Kamo'oalewa has been in its current orbit for around 100 years, and is expected to remain there for the next 300 years. Kamo'oalewa has garnered attention due to its unusual orbit and unknown origin. Scientists believe that exploring this asteroid would help them find clues about how quasi-satellites came to be, and how their orbits evolved over time. Moreover, some researchers suggest that Kamo'oalewa could be the first known asteroid composed of lunar material. In 2021, University of Arizona planetary scientist Benjamin Sharkey and colleagues wrote in the journal Communications Earth & Environment that Kamo'oalewa might have been ejected from the Moon's surface due to a collision with some other astronomical object. They said so because the telescope that they used to investigate Kamo'oalewa picked up a usual spectrum, or pattern of reflected light, that suggested Kamo'oalewa is composed of silicates resembling those found in Apollo lunar samples. The exploration of the asteroid could settle the hypothesis that the Moon was formed as a result of a collision between the Earth and another small planet. (Kamo'oalewa could be a small remnant of that collision). 'Observations and the ejecta models do not yet prove it…[the samples in an Earth-based lab could] settle the question [of origin] definitively,' Mainzer said. To collect the samples from Kamo'oalewa, the Tianwen-2 mission will use a 'touch-and-go' technique which has been successfully implemented by the United States' OSIRIS-Rex and Japan's Hayabusa2 missions. In this technique, the spacecraft hovers close to the surface of the asteroid while a robotic arm fires an object or burst of gas to knock fragments into a collection chamber. Depending on the surface conditions, the Tianwen-2 probe might also use a second 'anchor and attach' technique. In this, four robotic arms extend and drill into the surface to retrieve material. After collecting the samples, the mission will drop them on Earth. The probe will then head towards the main asteroid belt for another mission. Experts, however, suggest that collecting samples from Kamo'oalewa will be a challenging task for Tainwen-2. The issue is that unlike previously explored asteroids, Kamo'oalewa is quite small. It measures just 40 to 100 metres in diameter. As a result, the mission would need highly sophisticated cameras, spacecraft computers, and reaction control systems.
