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Initially observed in 2017, the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua is the first object of its kind to be seen in our solar system. Researchers have been puzzled because its acceleration cannot be entirely explained by the gravitational pull of nearby bodies: there must be a nongravitational influence on its velocity and trajectory. Some previously suggested explanations for this nongravitational acceleration involve mechanisms that are unlikely or unrealistic, such as geometric effects from ‘Oumuamua being potentially composed of several spatially separated bodies. Now, Jennifer Bergner and colleagues propose that the nongravitational acceleration is due to the gaseous expulsion of entrapped hydrogen from ‘Oumuamua’s water-rich icy body.
Which statement, if true, would most strongly support the claim made by Bergner and colleagues about the cause of ‘Oumuamua’s acceleration?