Convinced of Found an Extraterrestrial Object, Harvard Astrophysicist Explores Part of the Pacific Ocean

Leading Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb is planning an expedition to the Pacific Ocean to find what he believes is an extraterrestrial artifact that crashed off Manus Island in 2014. This leading researcher of extraterrestrial intelligence, head of the department of astronomy at a prestigious American university, has announced that he will soon travel to Papua New Guinea with a team of scientists. The purpose of this expedition is to find fragments of this meteor, which he calls “the first known object of interstellar origin— that is, it is outside our solar system — but is also potentially an “alien remnant.”

“CNEOS1 2014-01-08” (this is the scientific name for this object) is composed of an extremely hard and resistant rock or metal. Properties that prove, according to Avi Loeb, that the meteorite is in fact not alone. According to him, it is possible that this object “of artificial origin… launched a billion years ago by a distant technological civilization”, he writes on the Medium platform. According to him, in April 2022, the US Department of Defense Space Command confirmed that the object came from outside our solar system. In addition, by analyzing images of the fireball taken by military satellites, the team was able to learn a little more about its composition.

Indeed, the longer it takes the atmosphere to ignite a meteorite, the more stable it is, the researcher explains. Computer simulations done by his team in the lab suggest that it may be more stable than 272 other meteors in NASA’s Near Earth Object Science Center catalog. “Intrigued by this find, I assembled a team who planned a two-week expedition to search for meteorite fragments at a depth of 1.7 km on the ocean floor. An analysis of the composition of the debris could allow us to determine whether the object is of natural or artificial origin.the scientist explains.

However, with the help of the American army, Avi Loeb and his team were able to determine the likely impact zone of this meteor from somewhere else. These military satellites are mainly used to detect missiles, but keep an eye out for space objects interacting with the Earth. This allowed the researchers to get a vague idea of ​​its trajectory and impact zone within a perimeter of 100 square kilometers. Next, the scientist looked at the data of seismic sensors that were located near the given area. “We have found that the blast wave from a meteorite explosion generates a high quality signal in a seismometer located on Manus Island.”, points to Medium scientist. By rechecking this data, the team was able to determine this time an impact zone of approximately one square kilometer.

However, the mission promises to be delicate. In fact, even if the likely impact zone can be reduced, it will be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, the physicist admits. The size of the fragments will depend on the composition of the meteorite. If it is made of iron, Avi Loeb predicts that there will be about a thousand millimeter-sized fragments at the bottom of the ocean. On the other hand, if the meteorite is made of stainless steel, it expects to find larger fragments, with dozens of fragments larger than one centimeter. The team plans to methodically search the ocean floor in the area for two weeks.

“We will tow a sleigh equipped with magnets, cameras and lights along the ocean floor”, explains the researcher. They will use a device inspired by the magnetic Cosmic Muck Rack (image posted by a researcher on Medium), which was developed in 2009 by University of Washington astronomer Don Brownlee in Seattle. The expedition should start, if all goes well, this summer, according to the American website The Daily Beast. The researcher also indicated that he had received from Papua New Guinea all the necessary permissions to conduct these investigations. The total cost of the operation is one and a half million dollars, including those funded by donors.

“May Not Work”, admits Avi Loeb, realizing the complexity of such an expedition. Nevertheless, he remains convinced in the interests of the mission. “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence”he explains. The director of the department of astronomy at Harvard University is not at the very beginning of his journey. He became known to the general public, in particular, in 2017, when he hypothesized that ‘Oumuamua, the first known object from outside the solar system, could be a spacecraft sent by an extraterrestrial civilization.

A recent study published in the journal Nature indicates that while we will never know for sure what ‘Oumuamua was, the explanation that this interstellar body is not of extraterrestrial origin is the most convincing.

Either “technological balance” originating from an extraterrestrial civilization, as the alien hunter writes, or from an ultra-resistant material of natural origin, still unknown (a rare metal forged in the heart of neutron stars, for example), “we learn something new”, adds the scientist. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Ravi Kopparap, an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, believes that “this can confirm to us the nature of the interstellar meteor and tell us if this meteor is unique or if it’s a new class of meteorite.” Avi Loeb may give us an answer in a few months.