Scientists discover "interstellar object" hurtling through our solar system

boing
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I like NASA’s 404 page:
https://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/interstellar.mp3

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23

Hey, got room for a few more?

Things here are looking pretty bad.

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Just for everybody’s reference, the earth’s orbital speed is about 18.5 miles per second. At least, according to Wolfram Alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earth’s+orbital+speed+in+mi%2Fs

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25

Clarke should have stopped with the first one.

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26

Send a mission to land on and explore it.
That would be the basis for a great movie.

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I think stopped with the first one, so it’s good.

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No worries, I read all of them and can remember almost nothing about what they were about. What I can recall came from “Rendezvous With Rama”, and then the next book a second probe showed up in the solar system, but that’s the extent of my recollection. Like movies, I typically consider the duds as the ones that have left almost no impression on me. In fact the latter Rama books were co-authored, so I don’t even consider them as Clarke works.

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File under ‘hopefully not an alien kinetic-kill vehicle’.

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Actually, I believe that we do not have any rocket that could catch up with it. According to JPL’s Horizons system, its speed when it was closest to the Sun peaked at 87.5 km/s or 54.4 miles/sec, and it was still 60 km/s or 37.3 miles/sec when it was closest to the Earth. On top of that, its inclination with respect to the ecliptic would mean that an even higher speed would be needed.

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Clearly we will have to use a new, experimental propultion system. One that will disrupt the protagonists’ place in the space-time continuum.

Or possibly they will have to sling-shot themselves arond the Sun.

All this will make for a richer narrative.

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33

It would be very funny if it really was a spaceship; people on earth awaiting for extraterrestrial life to come Earth jus for it to pass us by ignoring us (and honking the horn as they goes by).

-Get out the way, human scum! We are on our way to visit the cool Pegassians!

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It would be nice if it was possible to land a probe on that rock (or block of ice or whatever it turns out to be1)) and turn it into an interstellar “message in a bottle”.

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1)

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36

I opt for releasing graviton particles from the warp core to slow it down.

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Yikes! Don’t look at that orbit gif right after watching Melancholia

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All Treknology is based on three words. Bipolar graviton particles?

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I wonder what it would take to convince the humpback whales to put in a good word for us when the aliens get here.

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Soon to be followed by another object, flashing red and blue.

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