The first known alien rock traveling through our solar system from another star system deeply surprised researchers, as the object is not exactly what they had expected it to be, according to The Independent.
According to reports, the object is wrapped in a layer of organic insulation that protects the frozen water inside it from being affected by the sun.
The finding contradicts previous scientific assumptions about how such "visitors" should look.
Researchers assumed that such objects would be made up of ice and would leave a visible trace behind them as they flow past hot stars. But when Oumuamua appeared their assumptions were not confirmed.
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"Our study says that this object could well be icy in nature but we didn't detect that ice due to the fact it's been baked by energetic radiation between the stars for hundreds of millions of years, or even billions of years," Alan Fitzsimmons from Queen's University Belfast was quoted by The Independent as saying.
Researchers have known for a long time that comets and asteroids were thrown out of our solar system when it was formed and suggested that similar processes could take place in other planetary systems.
Now scientists are conducting various studies to learn more about Oumuamua.
