After reading about Avi Loeb‘s proposal to check for radio emissions from the interstellar object ʻOumuamua I had an idea.
What if the tumbling motion of ʻOumuamua based on the observed light curve emitted actually is a way of communicating? I mean that the object was set in a deliberate oscillating motion to deliver a message in the light spectrum using light from a nearby star.
I’m thinking specifically of this part where the light curve is measured:
Accounting for Vega’s proper motion, it would have taken ʻOumuamua 600,000 years to reach the Solar System from Vega.
Source
Please note that I still doubt there is alien life in the universe besides earth, but hypothetically, if you are going to send a message which takes roughly 600,000 years to reach its destination, how would you do that in practice?
Our modern technology capable of transmitting radio signals only last decades at best, usually even less, so ʻOumuamua producing radio signals seems unlikely. On the other hand, an object launched with deliberate trajectory, certain spin (tumbling in 3 dimensions), which is made from a material where the approximate deterioration in space can be calculated seems more likely even if it’s still a long shot.
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