Question

this question is based on the following reading astronomy news article. read the article, and then answer the question that follows.
this interstellar asteroid is accelerating
by steven spence
the discovery of the first known object from another star to visit our solar system was big, big news. figuring out where it came from, why it moves the way it does, and what it’s made of is an ongoing project.
first asteroid of its kind
in october 2017, oumuamua—or 1i/2017 u1—became the first interstellar asteroid detected by humans. it also changed how comets and asteroids are named. comets’ technical names begin with the letter c, while asteroids have the letter a. following oumuamua’s discovery, the international astronomical union introduced the letter i to designate interstellar objects.
what do we know about oumuamua?
oumuamua, which means “a messenger from afar arriving first” in hawaiian, was discovered on october 19, 2017, by the university of hawaii’s pan-starrs1 telescope. the telescope is part of a nasa - funded program to discover and track asteroids and comets near earth’s orbit. initially, scientists were not sure what the object was. it was first classified as a comet while details about its orbit and composition were still being worked out. later, scientists decided to reclassify it as an asteroid due to the lack of visible comet activity. scientists also could not measure a cyanide gas emission, typically seen in out - gassing from comets formed in our solar system. oumuamua has a complex rotational motion. it spins on its axis approximately every seven hours and 20 minutes. the asteroid is also unusually shaped. based on variations in observed brightness and the rotation of the asteroid, models indicate the asteroid is approximately five times as long (~800 meters) as it is in diameter (~160 meters).
oumuamua has a dull red color. scientists think its surface was reddened by cosmic rays while it is travelling through interstellar space. the object is dense and rocky or metallic, with little dust or ice detected. no coma of dust and gas from oumuamua is visible in telescopes, as would be the case with a typical comet.
asteroid’s interstellar origin
1st attempt
see hint
at present, scientists’ best guess as to how ‘oumuamua is accelerating is that it is due to “comet - like outgassing.” outgassing occurs when a jet of gas shoots out from the object. considering newton’s third law, how would outgassing cause an object like ‘oumuamua to accelerate?
choose one:
a. outgassing causes an air pocket to form around ‘oumuamua, and the object accelerates due to encountering less friction.
b. similar to how a rocket operates, the outgassing pushes forward on ‘oumuamua, and ‘oumuamua pushes back on the outgassing to accelerate the object.
c. the outgassing causes ‘oumuamua’s mass to change, increasing the gravitational interaction with the sun.
d. outgassing causes ‘oumuamua’s mass to decrease, which increases its inertia.

Explanation:

Answer:

B. Similar to how a rocket operates, the outgassing pushes forward on 'Oumuamua, and 'Oumuamua pushes back on the outgassing to accelerate the object.