'Oumuamua Is Not Aliens
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as a sober analysis of 'Oumuamua theories that counters the alien-spacecraft claims.
What it is
PBS Space Time examines the interstellar object 'Oumuamua and the popular theories about it, including the light-sail hypothesis. It argues that a natural rock is the likeliest explanation.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2018 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec justaguyonline · 2019-02 · on “Oumuamua continues to perplex astronomers a year after it vanished”
And I really recommend this PBS Space Time Video: [this video] He makes excellent points that given historical data, a mm thin solar sail really shouldn't be our first conclusion instead of a collection of rocks that broke apart and refused back together (think of a combination of Shoemaker-Levy and Ultima Thule). And given the short length of time we've been observing space, chances of one of the first things we see enter our solar system be a tumbling, solar sail would mean that interstellar space is chock full of wildly tumbling solar sails! We need to take base rates for probability into account and realize that since most of the stuff we've seen in space is just rocks and most of our models
Recommends herogreen · 2018-11 · on “6 Strange Facts about the Interstellar Visitor 'Oumuamua”
If you like videos, PBS Space Time published one recently about the paper that tests the light sail hypothesis: [this video]
Recommends cpeterso · 2019-03 · on “Galaxy Simulations Offer a New Solution to the Fermi Paradox”
The PBS Space Time video series, written and hosted by Lehman College astrophysicist Matthew O’Dowd, has a nice analysis of popular 'Oumuamua theories: "'Oumuamua Is Not Aliens" [this video]
Cites kkoncevicius · 2021-02 · on “The Alien-Haunted World”
For me it went into the opposite direction after listening to 'omuamua is not aliens' video [1]. I think Dr. Loeb, contrary to what he says, is exploiting this a bit for some personal gain and fame. [1]: [this video]