Further strangeness of 'Oumuamua.

 Copyright 2023 Robert Clark

  Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb listed 6 strange things about the interstellar object 'Oumuamua unexpected in a naturally occuring asteroid or comet:

6 Strange Facts about the Interstellar Visitor 'Oumuamua
By Abraham Loeb on November 20, 2018
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/6-strange-facts-about-the-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua/

 Software engineer Adam Hibberd of the Initiative for 4 Interstellar Studies(i4is) has also discussed the unusual aspects of the interstellar object in regards to its point of origin and perihelion distance:

‘Oumuamua: Some More Strangeness
16 June 2022
https://i4is.org/oumuamua-some-more-strangeness/

 Hibberd noted the trajectory parameters of 'Oumuamua were such they would only happen about 2.5% of the time. He also noted the unusal aspects of 'Oumuamua's trajectory made it more likely for it to be detected from Earth. But by that same token, wouldn't that also mean for a supposed craft observing Earth the trajectory characteristics would make the observations easier?

 In that regard, note some further odd properties of 'Oumuamua are described below.

1.)See the speeds of 'Oumuamua by distance from the Sun here:

Oumuamua speed relative to the Sun^[63]

Distance	Date	Velocity km/s
2300 AU	1605	26.34
1000 AU	1839	26.35
100 AU	2000	26.67
10 AU	2016	29.50
1 AU	9 August 2017	49.67
Perihelion	9 September 2017	87.71[10]
1 AU	10 October 2017	49.67[e]
10 AU	2019	29.51
100 AU	2034	26.65
1000 AU	2196	26.36
2300 AU	2430	26.32

 Notable is that the velocity of 'Oumuamua at 1 AU of 49.67 km/s is close to the escape velocity from the Sun at 1 AU, i.e., the escape velocity from the Sun at Earth's distance from the Sun, of 42 km/s.

 If you think of a natural interstellar asteroid then its speed passing 1 AU could be below escape velocity at that distance or above it. But for an artificial interstellar satellite, you don't want it to be below escape velocity from the Sun because you wouldn't want it captured in that system you are examining. So you would want it above the escape velocity, but not too far above it so as to allow accurate observations.

 Then it would be useful to examine the odds of 'Oumuamua having a speed at 1 AU so close to Earth's escape velocity.

2.)The closeness of 'Oumuamua to the Earth at closest approach of 0.16 AU was quite surprising considering it is an interstellar object. But also unexpected is the closeness it came to the other planets of the inner solar system:

This animation shows the trajectory of 'Oumuamua in relation to Mercury, Venus, and Earth:

 The video provides the distance of 'Oumuamua to those inner planets at closest approach. For Mercury and Venus, it's 0.285 AU and 0.605 AU respectively.

 And for the Earth. it's 0.163 AU at closest approach:

  While this image showing the closeness of the Earth approach is interesting, something else about it is  also interesting. It appears at this time of closest approach to the Earth, all three of Mercury, Venus, Mars would be visible in the sky at the same time from Earth. This is notable because this only happens about one day per year. So there is only about 1/365 chance of this happening. So this multiplies times the unlikelihood of it's trajectory as calculated by Hibberd.

 As to why this would happen, one could say this supposed artificial visitor wanted a nice picture of all the inner planets in the sky at the same time. But I think a likelier possibility is the intent was to have close approaches of all the inner planets. The parameters of such a trajectory necessitated at some point Mercury, Venus. and Mars would be visible in the sky at the same time from Earth.

 Given this fact, a calculation of the odds should be made of the trajectory parameters being such that 'Oumuamua made such close approaches to Mercury, Venus, and Earth.

  Robert Clark