2021/03/31 by Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomical and nuclear sciences #Astrophysics #Iceberg #Mass fraction #Meteorology #Nitrogen #Physics #Planet #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.newast.2021.101730
published in New Astronomy 92, 101730 (Elsevier BV) · 3 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in New Astronomy
arxiv created 2021/10/15 · openalex publication_date 2021/11/05 · arxiv updated 2021/11/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Recently, a nitrogen iceberg was proposed as a possible origin for the first interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1, also known as `Oumuamua. Here, we show that the mass budget in exo-Pluto planets necessary to explain the detection of `Oumuamua as a nitrogen iceberg chipped off from a planetary surface requires a mass of heavy elements exceeding the total quantity locked in stars with 95% confidence, making the scenario untenable because only a small fraction of the mass in stars ends in exo-Plutos.