The Mass Budget Necessary to Explain `Oumuamua as a Nitrogen Iceberg

Abstract

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.

3 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in New Astronomy

References in corpus (6)

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• Constraints on the Occurrence of 'Oumuamua-Like Objects
• Star formation history of the solar neighbourhood as told by Gaia
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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Constraints on the Occurrence of 'Oumuamua-Like Objects
• On the Possibility of an Artificial Origin for `Oumuamua
• The New Astronomical Frontier of Interstellar Objects
• Erosion of Icy Interstellar Objects by Cosmic Rays and Implications for `Oumuamua
• Research Programs Arising from 'Oumuamua Considered as an Alien Craft
• The Inferred Abundance of Interstellar Objects of Technological Origin
• Preliminary Evidence That Protoplanetary Disks Eject More Mass Than They Retain