4
$\begingroup$

Can we get a picture of Oumuamua with Hubble Space Telescope? If not, what are the reasons?

Answers why other telescopes might fail to get a picture of Oumuamua are welcomed as well.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to astronomy SE! Great question BTW. $\endgroup$
    – B--rian
    Jun 4, 2021 at 14:03

1 Answer 1

6
$\begingroup$

No we can't, The Wikipedia article states that:

the size and shape have not been directly observed as ʻOumuamua appears as nothing more than a point source of light even in the most powerful telescopes

In addition, note c states that:

Brightness peaked at 19.7 mag on 18 October 2017, and faded below 27.5 mag (the limit of Hubble Space Telescope for fast-moving objects) around 1 January 2018.

So the HST has a limit of 27.5 magnitude for fast-moving objects, and ʻOumuamua is now fainter than that limit.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Generating an ephemeris for 1I/'Oumuamua for HST in JPL HORIZONS shows that it is now magnitude 36... $\endgroup$ Jun 4, 2021 at 15:45

You must log in to answer this question.