It wasn't aliens that sent an interstellar comet to visit our solar system. The explanation is a phenomenon called outgassing.
Remember what feels like decades ago, when we were visited by a comet from another solar system in 2019? Interstellar comet ‘Oumuamua captured headlines when its cigar-shaped body was spotted following an unusual orbit through our solar system, and subsequent research suggested it might once have been part of a Pluto-like planet and was possibly pancake-shaped.
Related Videos Comets are primarily made of dust, rock, and ice, and as they approach the sun they warm up and give off water and dust particles . We are used to observing average-sized comets which eject gases, giving the comet a tiny kick and changing its trajectory ever so slightly. The lead researcher, an astrochemist, worked with an astronomer on the idea that the hydrogen being outgassed by the comet might have been trapped within the comet’s own ice.
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