Seven years later, what can we make of our first confirmed interstellar visitor?

In 2017, astronomers recognized the primary recognized interstellar object to have entered our photo voltaic system, now generally often called ʻOumuamua. A comparatively small physique, estimated to be roughly the scale of a skyscraper, ʻOumuamua transfixed scientists with its peculiar properties and impressed countless ‘it have to be aliens’ takes from a fascinated public – and not less than one Harvard astrophysicist. On this entertaining lecture from January 2024, Chris Lintott, professor of astrophysics on the College of Oxford and professor of astronomy at Gresham School in London, makes the case that, whereas this object’s fleeting presence in our photo voltaic system wasn’t coordinated by extraterrestrial life, it nonetheless has a lot to show us in regards to the nature of the Universe.