# Meech 2017: A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

> Karen J. Meech, Robert Weryk, Marco Micheli et al., 2017. 7 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The primary record of what the object looked like…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CSKB1W02ZW4/a-brief-visit-from-a-red-and-extremely-elongated  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[1I/'Oumuamua](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua)Meech 2017

**0**

# A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid

Karen J. Meech, Robert Weryk, Marco Micheli et al., 2017. _Nature_.

The discovery paper. Reports the Pan-STARRS1 detection, the hyperbolic orbit, the absence of any coma down to deep limits despite a perihelion at 0.25 au, a red surface, a light curve varying by about 2.5 magnitudes that implies a body about ten times longer than wide, a mean radius of about 100 m for an albedo of 0.04, and a revised estimate of the space density of such objects. Nature 552, 378-381.

**1I/'Oumuamua** Articledoi: **[10.1038/nature25020](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25020)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The primary record of what the object looked like; its source-data spreadsheets are the first photometry table.

## Cited by on this site 7 records

[A long, thin cigar (axis ratio about 1:8 or more) tumbling near its lowest rotational energy state.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua/answers/ANS0CSKCE9W2G6M/a-long-thin-cigar-axis-ratio-about-1-8-or-more-tumbling-near)

Answer

ANS

[1I/'Oumuamua](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua/artifacts/ART0CSKCV7Y2C6C/1i-oumuamua)

ART

[Meech et al. 2017 source data (multi-telescope photometry and reflectance spectrum)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0CSKCS9E16Q0/meech-et-al-2017-source-data-multi-telescope-photometry-and)

Dataset

DAT

[A 2.5-magnitude range implies a body about ten times longer than wide.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua/evidence/EVD0CSKCEHP55TH/a-2-5-magnitude-range-implies-a-body-about-ten-times-longer)

Evidence

EVD

[Karen J. Meech](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua/people/FIG0CSKBR2Y7CP4/karen-j-meech)

FIG

[1I/'Oumuamua](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua)

The mystery article

MYS

[What shape was 'Oumuamua, and how did it spin?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oumuamua/questions/QST0CSKBZWY4KE5/what-shape-was-oumuamua-and-how-did-it-spin)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Meech, K. J., Weryk, R., Micheli, M., Kleyna, J. T., Hainaut, O. R., Jedicke, R., Wainscoat, R. J., Chambers, K. C., Denneau, L., Keane, J. V., Yang, B., & Fitzsimmons, A. (2017). A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25020
```

[Read it free at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25020)

Key

**SRC** 0CSKB1W02ZW4

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

27 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CSKB1W02ZW4/a-brief-visit-from-a-red-and-extremely-elongated/csl.json)