365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

Interstellar Visitors Could Vanish in Space Before We Ever See Them. Here's Why - ScienceAlert

Interstellar Visitors Could Vanish in Space Before We Ever See Them. Here's Why - ScienceAlert

Interstellar Visitors Could Vanish in Space Before We Ever See Them. Here's Why - ScienceAlert
Sep 16, 2021 1 min, 15 secs

So far we know of only two interstellar objects (ISO) to visit our Solar System.

But a new research letter shows that cosmic ray erosion limits the lifespan of icy ISOs, and though there may be many more of them, they simply don't last as long as thought.

The title of the research letter is "Erosion of Icy Interstellar Objects by Cosmic Rays and Implications for 'Oumuamua." It's available on the preprint site arxiv.org and hasn't been peer-reviewed yet.

Then they considered the cosmic rays in the interstellar medium (ISM) and their erosion effect on the ices.

CR flux can vary widely and the erosion time for a given icy ISO can vary according to the cosmic ray strength.

The authors point out that we need to know more about the varying strength of cosmic rays in the Milky Way to make more progress.

"It is also clear from this example that a more detailed study of the spatial profile of Galactic CRs might help to shed light on the origin of ISOs passing through the Solar System," they write.

The study of ISOs is in its infancy.

With only two ISOs known so far, there's not many hard data to go on.

The researchers end their letter with the following: "It would be interesting to incorporate a detailed modelling of the CR distribution in the Galactic disk to set more rigorous constraints on the birth site of known ISOs and this might help to better clarify their origin.".

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED