Oumuamua leaves the solar system and its scientists with more questions than answers

‘Oumuamua brought to light that space rocks are likely a spectrum rather than a binary: Researchers. The interstellar space-rock ‘Oumuamua that did a fly-by Earth earlier this year has left our solar system, but not the systems of scientists that were studying the rock. “If it’s an asteroid, then it’s really unusual, with exotic scenarios for its formation.” The rock is a messenger, but a messenger from a dead star, the study says. Rafikov theorises in a previous study that when a star dies and forms what is known as a ‘white dwarf’, it rips planets apart and causes shards to be flung in different directions. The one fact brought to light by ‘Oumuamua according to many astronomers including Dr Michele Bannister from the Queen’s University, Belfast, is that space rocks need not be a binary — either comet or asteroid.