Detectability of Thermal Emission from Sub-Relativistic Objects
Abstract
We calculate the surface temperature and the resulting brightness of sub-relativistic objects moving through the Solar system due to collisional heating by gas and radiative heating by solar radiation. The thermal emission from objects of size 100 m and speed of 0.1c, can be detected by the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope out to a distance of 100 au. Future surveys could therefore set interesting limits on the abundance of fast-moving interstellar objects or spacecraft.
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