Was 'Oumuamua a cosmic dust bunny?

[lordsummerisle]

earthsky.org

When astronomers first spied ‘Oumuamua – in the fall of 2017 – they weren’t sure if it was one of our solar system’s asteroids or comets, or something else. It turned out to be an interstellar interloper, the first-known interstellar object. The astronomers watched it speed through the solar system, disappearing from view of even the largest earthly telescopes around January 2018 … as theories about its odd shape and behavior raged.

https://earthsky.org/space/was-oumuamua-a-cosmic-dust-bunny

[Igel]

1. Still a bit fuzzy on its ability to hold together.

But the forces would be slight, and perhaps electrostatic or whatever bonds were there would be strong enough.

The path seems to not take it near anything with too step a gravity well, so the gravitational forces wouldn't be that bad on it, either.

That leads to the next question: If there's one, there must be more. It's unlikely we'd see many unless we were looking. At the same time, if they got too close to a minor object they'd be shredded, and all that would be left would be dust.

I wonder if Stardust samples would shine any light on this? (Yeah, everybody's forgotten about Stardust. It didnt' find cosmic tardigrades, so nobody cared.)

[Iggo]

2. Ain't we all?