Snapshot · The Shawn Ryan Show
Oumuamua, discovered in 2017 by an Air Force telescope on Maui, was the first object confirmed to have come from outside our solar system, identified by its hyperbolic velocity and orbit.
Where this was said
At 51:10 · chapter starts 41:30
Brian Keating produces a replica of Galileo's 1609 telescope — the original of which is priceless — and delivers a masterful history of how Galileo transformed an existing toy into a military game-changer. Galileo didn't invent the telescope; he made it ten times better by counterintuitively stopping down the aperture (making it smaller to reduce glare and focus the eye's fovea) and placing it on a tripod for stability. That combination allowed the Venetian military to spot enemy ships three days before arrival — the first stealth-defeating technology. Keating traces the thread directly to Oumuamua: the Air Force telescope on Haleakala, Maui, that discovered humanity's first interstellar object in 2017 was designed for military surveillance of near-Earth space, not astronomy. Serendipity struck when an object with a hyperbolic orbit — meaning it wasn't bound to our Sun — was detected passing through. [1] — Brian Keating "Galileo didn't invent the telescope — he made it 10x better and put it on a tripod. That combination created the first military optic: a de…" 43:00
Galileo didn't invent the telescope — he made it 10x better and put it on a tripod. That combination created the first military optic: a device that could spot an enemy ship three days before it arrived. He immediately sold it to the Venetian military and became wealthy. Astronomy and warfare have been intertwined ever since.
In 2017, an Air Force telescope on Maui accidentally discovered Oumuamua — the first object ever confirmed to originate from outside our solar system. Its hyperbolic velocity proved it was not bound to our Sun. We can't catch it now, but we know exactly what it was.
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