Alien Debris Passed through Solar System in 2017, Astronomer Says

Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb of Harvard University believes that 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, a fast moving, cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin discovered close to Earth in October 2017, was most likely ‘a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization.’

‘Oumuamua was discovered by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on October 19, 2017, more than a month after it passed its closest point to the Sun.

“Long before we knew of its existence, the object was traveling toward us from the direction of Vega, a star just 25 light-years away,” Professor Loeb writes in his upcoming book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life beyond Earth.

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Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

An artist’s impression of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua.

Source / Image Courtesy

This animation (annotated) shows the path of the interstellar object `Oumuamua through the Solar System.

Unlike all other asteroids and comets observed before, this body is not bound by gravity to the Sun.

It has come from interstellar space and will return there after its brief encounter with our star system.

Its hyperbolic orbit is highly inclined and it does not appear to have come close to any other Solar System body on its way in.

Scientists were surprised and delighted to detect --for the first time-- an interstellar asteroid passing through our solar system.

Additional observations brought more surprises: the object is cigar-shaped with a somewhat reddish hue.

The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide.

That is unlike any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date, and may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.