By now, I think everyone that follows space-related news has heard about the comet that's sucking up every moment of news that's available. The 3I in the name means it's the third object that we've positively identified as coming from another star system, - the I is short for Interstellar - although I've never seen a specific star system named that would explain where it came from.
I paid attention to the passage of the other two comets that were named as coming from other star systems, 1I-Oumuamua, Hawaiian word for "a messenger from afar arriving first", in 2017 and 2I-Borisov in 2019. Oumuamua wasn't a comet; it was a rockier body with few properties that comets have; Borisov was the first comet from outside our solar system. Not one of the three extrasolar visitors have had their home star systems identified.
I consider it not at all surprising that a comet from another star system may have different chemical composition and therefore behave differently than what we regard as normal for comets we've seen down through history. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out (if it was possible to do so) that other Interstellar comets have come through our solar system and we just couldn't tell they "weren't from around here."
My reference to the "two stories" is that this comet gets talked about completely differently on space-related news sites versus sites more aimed at the general population, most notoriously like YouTube. Sites like Space.com (example article here) lately have been including prominent disclaimers like this one's, "a newly found interstellar comet poses absolutely no threat to Earth..." On YouTube, everyone from people I don't particularly disrespect but rarely ever looked at their channels, such as Michio Kaku, Avi Loeb, or Neil DeGrasse Tyson and over to channels I've never heard of, are railing about how dangerous it is and (apparently) making up news to back up their fear.
Pardon my skepticism, but with none of the "serious" news sources citing these things, I have to ask why. Unfortunately "click bait" is an adequate answer. YouTube channels are overloaded with statements about the comet having done various shocking things, and while I haven't spent hours looking for them, I have yet to see more than one video on any of these allegations.
A view of comet 3I/ATLAS taken by the Gemini South Telescope (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab))
Here on the blog, we've had little discussion about this, but I have a rough draft of something I wrote in a comment within the last month, that I'll add here:
Why do I think it's basically just another rock? Because it's acting like a rock. It's on a purely ballistic trajectory. It's moving fast compared to things we're used to observing - which is, after all, the last few years of human history - but it's not moving fast compared to the speeds required for living beings to cover the distances it has come. Good old Wikipedia says it's moving at 58km/sec or 0.000193c. We don't know where it came from, but even if it came from the closest stars at 4 light years away, that means more than 20,000 years to get here. Who's going to launch a system that slow, and why? What kind of system could work over 20,000 years without failing? If they wanted to take over our solar system or take our planet, if they have lifespans similar to ours, 20,000 years makes coming here to take over pretty much impossible.
It is an object that, apparently, is coming from either way outside our solar system or from the farthest reaches of our solar system, from the wake at the edge or the Oort cloud.
ReplyDeleteSo, maybe interstellar of origin, or from the redneck section of our system.
Big whoop. Neat. Wish we had a way to land a probe or people on it.
Or shove it into orbit at Luna.
DeleteGraybeard,
ReplyDeleteThis is actually the first cogent thoughts that I have found on the entire topic of this world ending, or not, object coming from afar. It is obvious that those with the right information and objectivity have already determined that it is just one more interesting thing in a universe of interesting things, and no huge deal in the actual world we live in.
I used to watch a lot of Youtube videos but recently I have started to shy away from anything other than fun topics like music from the mid to late 70's, when I was in high school. With AI taking over more and more, I just cannot trust most information put on anything, even if it includes pictures and testimonials from the most believable people around.
The sad thing is I believe that it will continue to get worse, until our entire system is changed. For example, we know that in a court of law, eye witness testimony can be, at times, less than reliable. Imagine the future when video footage of a crime can no longer be believed.
I don't know enough about AI to be able to say that experts can tell the difference between a fake and the real thing, but no doubt in the future there will be no way anyone can discern truth from fiction, unless they are present themselves.
The court system is just one example, there are much more scary and dangerous things to come, I fear. The MSM can manipulate people right now. Just wait until AI takes over. One can only hope that the ones doing the real work on this new technology have the character and best thoughts for what is good for the world to make sure that things don't go to the extreme such as the Russian Federation seeing the United States launching a bunch of missiles and retaliate.
"With AI taking over more and more, I just cannot trust most information put on anything, even if it includes pictures and testimonials from the most believable people around."
DeleteI've gotten to be the same way. It's incredibly easy to sit and watch those "shorts" on YouTube. Heck, they're always less than 60 seconds, so not much time lost. Next thing you know you've wasted an hour. In the last few weeks I've noticed that I've looked at something that's pretty believable if I think it only happens now and then, like a house cat scaring off a bear, then suddenly I get a similar video over and over. It's hard to imagine they have an AI station that generates videos while I'm sitting here, unless the AI station has its own nuclear power plant like Microsoft buying Three Mile Island.
To whom it may concern:
ReplyDeleteOur planet was dying. Already our culture had been thrown into a great turmoil. Most of our people had already perished and we didn't know why. Only a few animals were left, they not yet dead were gravely sick. Plants had turned to emitting toxins.
With little time left, our brightest minds had developed the idea of extracting DNA from the few who were still healthy. Several vessels were launched, each in its own direction.
We are a peaceful people. Please accept in good faith that which we have sent.
Encl: vast knowledge you will find helpful.
SiG, your calculations assume constant V.
ReplyDeletemillions take their news from Michio Kaku, Avi Loeb, or Neil DeGrasse Tyson. :(
ReplyDeleteI started to look at one of Tyson's videos, and very early in the video he said the comet was flying backwards. I've looked at a few pictures from observatories and I don't see how one could possibly say that. The comet itself is hidden in the gas and dust coming out of it in the picture I used and Every Other picture I've seen of it. I didn't get much past that.
DeleteBut, hey, he used to be the guy in a planetarium that read the script for the show, so he must be an expert.
The hysteria is similar to that surrounding "alien" life from other planets or UFO's. Many channels on TV have become unwatchable because of their "invasion" by these fantasies. I do also think these distractions are having a negative effect on science and education as well. That we raise and educate children who can then embrace these fantasies and spend huge amounts of time and effort on them is sad. Oh! I suppose that if they are making money exploiting this crap that they can perhaps justify it but then what about their thousands of serious followers? Is it all just another example of the demise of our country and our education systems? Are we now just Rome 400 AD???
ReplyDelete