Organic coat might explain interstellar object’s missing tail

By Katrina Krämer2017-12-22T12:20:00

Artist's concept of interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October 2017

Source: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser

Blanket of icy compounds could have protected ‘Oumuamua from the sun’s heat

A coat of frozen carbon-rich compounds might be the reason ʻOumuamua – the strangely disk-shaped object first spotted near the sun in October – never developed a tail like other comets.