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Physicist Avi Loeb of Harvard University in the USA has discovered 50 tiny spherical iron particles at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that he says could be
Physicist Avi Loeb of Harvard University in the USA has discovered 50 tiny spherical iron particles at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that he says could be the material of an alien interstellar ship. Loeb relates his finding to the passing of a fireball in January 2014. The meteor was observed by US Department of Defense sensors that monitor all objects entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It has been recorded to move faster than most meteorites and eventually disintegrate over the South Pacific Ocean near Papua New Guinea.
Data about the object is stored by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Objects Research (CNEOS). The official name of the meteor is CNEOS 20140108, also known as IM1 (interstellar meteor). From observing a fireball to claiming to be an alien spacecraft, there’s a huge scientific leap forward. What evidence does Loeb base his claim on? And how likely is this to be true?
We’ve had at least one visitor from interstellar space, Comet Oumuamua. The appearance of 1I/2017U1 with the official name ‘Oumuamua was certainly an extraordinary event. The object was observed as it left the solar system in 2017. Its orbit differs from the circular orbits of planets and the elliptical orbits of comets. The comet’s path was traced, and scientists discovered that it flew far beyond the boundaries of the solar system. The scientists were excited but also intrigued—though its shape wasn’t captured on camera, the way the light bounced off it as it rotated indicated it was oddly shaped like a cigar when viewed from the side or a plate when viewed from above.
In an insightful article written in 2018, Loeb suggested that “Oumuamua may have been “artificial rather than natural—the product of an extraterrestrial civilization.” He suggested continuing the search for interstellar debris in the solar system.
In pursuit of such debris, Loeb’s team scoured the CNEOS database for objects with unusual orbital characteristics. That’s when they found CNEOS 20140108 and, based on its high velocity, assumed it was an interstellar meteor and named it IM1, a more manageable name.
By modeling the fireball’s trajectory, Loeb identified a specific area in the South Pacific Ocean where he believed debris from IM1 would settle. After scanning the area with a powerful magnet, he now claims to have found material from IM1. But what are the chances of finding real interstellar wreckage, let alone a spaceship?
The diameter of the metal spheres found is about half a millimeter. It is possible that they have an extraterrestrial origin: several previous expeditions have removed spheres from space from the seafloor. The first expedition to find such specimens was HMS Challenger in 1872-76. The material pulled from the ocean floor contained many metallic droplets that were quite accurately described at the time as “space spheres.” Drops from space are spherical because as they pass through the atmosphere, they solidify from the molten material ejected from the meteorite’s surface.
Subsequent expeditions throughout the 20th century also found space spheres on the ocean floor, but these have become more difficult to detect. This is because the amount of pollution on Earth has increased in the 150 years since the Challenger expedition.
By 1872, the industrial revolution was in its infancy in Europe and almost nonexistent in the southern hemisphere. Thus, pollution such as “fly ash” (waste from burning coal) and particles from vehicles was minimal. Many of these pollutants are also spherical and metallic in composition.
Today, products of industrial processes and tools are everywhere. Therefore, it is impossible to determine that any of them are extraterrestrial without real analysis of the composition of the spheres and comparison with analysis of meteorites (and common terrestrial pollutants).
But Loeb doesn’t think the material just came from outer space, he thinks it came from interstellar space, and claims that “it may be the first time humans have touched interstellar material.” This is not true. There is a huge amount of interstellar material on Earth. Some of it is almost certainly on the ocean floor, but not in the form Loeb collected.
There are several different kinds of interstellar material I’m talking about. Astronomers are well aware that the interstellar medium – the space between stars – is not empty but contains several different molecules, most of them organic (consisting of carbon chains or rings). Some of these molecules mixed with the region of space where the solar system began to form.
As the stars themselves developed or exploded as supernovae, they provided material to the interstellar medium. Some of this material comes in the form of tiny diamonds or sapphires, rare memories of stars that lived and died before sunrise. These grains became part of the dust cloud that collapsed to form the Solar System and was eventually carried to Earth by meteorites.
Loeb’s evidence for an extraterrestrial origin of material, let alone an interstellar origin, is rather shaky. He found metal balls. I need solid analytical evidence for me (and others) to agree that these orbs are extraterrestrial. What are their compositions? How old are they? Can terrestrial pollutants be eliminated? Can we rule out remnants from extraterrestrial material in the solar system? The first question about composition has been answered: analysis of the spheres shows that they are composed mainly of iron with a small amount of metal.
We know that meteorites from our solar system contain iron and nickel, which mimics the relative abundance of these metals in the sun. But the orbs apparently contain “negligible” amounts of nickel, making it almost certain that they did not come from meteorites in the Solar System. However, this does not prove that they are interstellar; only increases the likelihood of terrestrial pollutants.
The most convincing evidence would be to measure the age of the spheres older than the age of the Sun, which would describe them as interstellar. And that would be great, but it wouldn’t definitively identify them as having artificial rather than natural origins. I don’t know what kind of evidence would be convincing enough for this – could it be the signature of the alien engineer who built the spaceship? Source
Source: Port Altele
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
