Foundations Reading 1A

chap 1 Reading Explorer Fundations Third Diction Copyright 2020, learning in cooperated All writes reserved

Reading 1A A MYSTERIOUS VISITOR In October 2017, astronomers in Hawaii saw something surprising. A strange object was moving through the solar system. They had seen many asteroids before, but this was something different. It was long and thin—like a cucumber. The object's speed and direction also showed something surprising. This was an interstellar object—the first ever seen. The object was named 'Oumuamua—Hawaiian for "visitor from afar." Nobody is sure exactly what it is. The simplest idea is that 'Oumuamua is a strangely shaped piece of rock. Perhaps it was knocked out of a far-off star system. However, astronomers saw that its speed increased after passing the sun. Some scientists therefore suggest a different theory. "'Oumuamua could be a piece of alien technology," says Professor Abraham Loeb from Harvard University. Loeb believes this could explain the object's long, thin shape, and also its change in speed. Maybe Oumuamua was a spaceship that came to explore our solar system. "All possibilities should be considered," says loeb. 'Oumuamua can no longer be seen from Earth. But astronomers continue to study the information they got from it. It is still not clear if the object was a large rock, or something else altogether. 'Oumuamua will likely be a mystery for many years to come.

'Oumuamua: What We Know Entered the inner solar system in August 2017. Possibly came from a star system 25 light years from our sun—a 600,000-year journey. Reached a top speed of 315,800 km/h—more than 250 times the speed of sound—as it passed the sun. First seen by astronomers in October 2017 when it was 33,000,000 km from Earth—about 85 times further than our moon 3.

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