On the Possibility of an Artificial Origin for `Oumuamua

TL;DR

This paper explores the unusual characteristics of `Oumuamua, considering the possibility of an artificial origin due to natural explanations' shortcomings, and discusses the Galileo Project's efforts to gather data for identification.

Contribution

It highlights the anomalies of `Oumuamua and argues for considering artificial origins, proposing future data collection through the Galileo Project.

Findings

Natural models have significant quantitative shortcomings.

Artificial origin remains a plausible hypothesis.

Galileo Project aims to collect data to determine `Oumuamua's nature.

Abstract

The first large interstellar object discovered near Earth, `Oumuamua, showed half a dozen anomalies relative to comets or asteroids in the Solar system. All natural-origin interpretations of the Oumuamua anomalies contemplated objects of a type never-seen-before, such as: a porous cloud of dust particles, a tidal disruption fragment or exotic icebergs made of pure hydrogen or pure nitrogen. Each of these natural-origin models has major quantitative shortcomings, and so the possibility of an artificial origin for `Oumuamua must be considered. The Galileo Project aims to collect new data that will identify the nature of `Oumuamua-like objects in the coming years.