A mysterious object once viewed as a potential alien spaceship is more likely to have been a massive speck of interplanetary dust, scientists say.
‘Oumuamua, a cigar-shaped entity about 100 metres long, created a sensation when it was first spotted two years ago close to the sun. Travelling at 50 miles a second, its orbit was unlike that of any asteroid.
From its trajectory, it could only have come from outside our solar system, making it the first such confirmed interstellar traveller to be observed. However, astronomers could not detect a tail, which would be expected from an icy comet.
To deepen the mystery, as it raced through space, ‘Oumuamua appeared to be accelerating. Scientists from Harvard said last year that the most exotic explanation