TY - JOUR
T1 - Why is interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) rocky, tumbling and possibly very prolate?
AU - Katz, J. I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - The recently discovered first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) has brightness that varies by a factor of 10, a range greater than that of any Solar system asteroid, a spectrum characteristic of type D asteroids, and no evidence of evaporating volatiles, contrary to expectation for exo-Oort clouds. 'Oumuamua is possibly the first example of the proposed 'Jurads', objects depleted in volatiles and ejected from planetary systems during the post-main sequence evolution of their parent stars. I suggest that heating by the star's giant stage fluidized a precursor object as well as driving off any volatiles, causing it to assume the Jacobi ellipsoidal shape of a self-gravitating incompressible liquid. The collision that produced the inferred tumbling motion may have occurred thousands of years after the formation of 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua. Jacobi ellipsoids have a unique relation among rotation rate, density and axial ratio. The inferred axial ratio 5 suggests a lower bound on the density of 1.6 g cm-3, apparently excluding an icy interior unless it is almost entirely frozen CO2. 'Oumuamua may be related to accreting objects that pollute white dwarf atmospheres and that may make Soft Gamma Repeaters.
AB - The recently discovered first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) has brightness that varies by a factor of 10, a range greater than that of any Solar system asteroid, a spectrum characteristic of type D asteroids, and no evidence of evaporating volatiles, contrary to expectation for exo-Oort clouds. 'Oumuamua is possibly the first example of the proposed 'Jurads', objects depleted in volatiles and ejected from planetary systems during the post-main sequence evolution of their parent stars. I suggest that heating by the star's giant stage fluidized a precursor object as well as driving off any volatiles, causing it to assume the Jacobi ellipsoidal shape of a self-gravitating incompressible liquid. The collision that produced the inferred tumbling motion may have occurred thousands of years after the formation of 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua. Jacobi ellipsoids have a unique relation among rotation rate, density and axial ratio. The inferred axial ratio 5 suggests a lower bound on the density of 1.6 g cm-3, apparently excluding an icy interior unless it is almost entirely frozen CO2. 'Oumuamua may be related to accreting objects that pollute white dwarf atmospheres and that may make Soft Gamma Repeaters.
KW - asteroids: individual: 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua)
KW - minor planets
KW - stars: neutron
KW - white dwarfs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068456191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnrasl/sly074
DO - 10.1093/mnrasl/sly074
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068456191
SN - 1745-3925
VL - 478
SP - L95-L98
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
IS - 1
ER -