Thread by @ydnadydnad

This work by a postdoctoral fellow and a renowned astrophysicist, alluding to the finite possibility that the unusual acceleration of the space object "Oumuamua" could belie an intelligent, extraterrestrial (yeah, ALIEN) origin has upset community 1/n

m.phys.org/news/2018-11-o…

The manuscript to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters is this: Shmuel Bialy and Abraham Loeb, "Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain 'Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?" 2/n
arxiv.org/abs/1810.11490

Some are upset because the media has seized upon one of the hypothesis expressed at the end of the manuscript, namely, the unusual motion of the object (which could simply be a comet) may hint at an intelligent origin. The rock is known to be from outside the solar system. 3/n

There are headlines and media reports focussing only on that one aspect of the paper, that the rock came from an alien civilization, who sent it purposely on a tour of the solar system! 4/n

But, if you ignore that one aspect, the paper contains a nice exposition of the dynamics of a very thin space object under gravity and radiation pressure, as well as the possibility of such an object surviving a long journey through space. 5/n

So, why are many people upset? Because people think that alluding to that alien bit was unnecessary as this could not be conclusively proven. 6/n

But the authors at @HarvardITC never claimed the alien origin hypothesis to be conclusive anyway. They were merely suggesting the possibility exists, even if it is low and unlikely. 7/n

This is fair...in my opinion. It is even fine if they knew this was going to be seized by the media and they would go crazy. Because that possibility, should not deter anyone from penning down a possibility, however unlikely it is. Because, hey, very unlikely stuff, happens 8/n

This episode succintly illustrates that if ever we do get clinching evidence of extraterrestrial life, we would be very skeptical at first; acceptability would take time 9/n

This is also fine. This is how science works. Outlandish ideas, if they are not ruled out by evidence, should be welcome. Skepticism too 10/n

I would not bet that 'Oumuamua is an alien light sail. I would not bet against the existence of extraterrestrial life either. I will keep a close watch on @SETIInstitute 11/n