Analysis of seismic and acoustic data from stations expected to capture the signal of an interstellar asteroid showed that earlier conclusions were incorrect. As a result, the debris of the space object declared “alien technology” was not found where it was supposed to be. More than 10 years ago, on January 8, 2014, meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08 entered Earth’s atmosphere over the western Pacific Ocean. On average, 17,600 cosmic stones weighing more than 50 grams fall on our planet annually, but this object turned out to be unusual due to its “flight” parameters.

Interest in such objects increased as ‘Oumuamua became known as an interstellar guest. Astronomers began searching for possible “guests” in decades of observation data. In 2019, Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb calculated the speed and flight path of CNEOS on 2014-01-08. Based on the results, they concluded that this was the same “interstellar guest” that was the oldest guest we know of. Theoretically, “interstellar guests” should fly into our system every ten years.

According to the researchers’ calculations, the object, which was approximately 0.45 meters in diameter, flew in space at a speed of over 200 thousand kilometers per hour. Judging by the orbit, it came into the solar system from outside. In 2022, scientists from the US Space Command confirmed these calculations based on data from their own observations. But a year later, another group of astronomers published a study suggesting that the speed estimate was likely overestimated due to very large observational error at high speeds.

In June 2023, an expedition led by Avi Loeb traveled to the possible fall zone of meteor fragments. For two weeks, scientists scanned the seafloor about 85 kilometers north of Manus Island, part of Papua New Guinea.

Researchers found approximately 850 spherical fragments measuring 0.1-1.3 millimeters in diameter. After analyzing the composition, they declared that one-tenth of these particles were fragments of that meteorite. As scientists have noticed, this is most likely a rock of igneous origin, but there are also suggestions of “alien technology”, among others.

The authors of the new study, published open access on the arXiv.org portal, questioned the search space. According to the discovery team, the fall area was determined with an accuracy of 16 square kilometers using satellite data from the CNEOS catalog and seismic data from a station on Manus Island. New analysis showed that the source of the seismic signal may have been a truck.

To do this, scientists from Johns Hopkins University (USA) checked data from other seismic and infrasound stations in Australia, Palau and the island of New Guinea. Seismic stations failed to detect the meteor, although they should have detected it if it had actually exploded where it was claimed.

Moreover, although there is a signal in the data of the station on Manus, it is no different from other signals recorded at the same time. In general, this station captures such signals frequently. After looking at satellite images of the area, the authors of the new study hypothesized that the “culprit” was a nearby road where another truck had passed.

Infrasonic stations caught the signal of the meteor, but very strong sounds do not allow to accurately determine the area where the debris fell. There is a 90% probability that this is an area of ​​approximately 270,000 square kilometers centered approximately 170 kilometers from where the fragments were discovered. However, it covers the field of research.

As for the spheres, after the publication of the discovery results, other scientists compared the claimed composition with possible terrestrial and anthropogenic sources. Author of the published work Research Notes of the American Astronomical Societysuggested that it was mostly simple coal

In a paper published on arXiv.org in early March 2024, the author focused on the 10% of spheres of “extraterrestrial origin.” His analysis showed that there was nothing unusual in the composition of these granules; These are microtektites. Judging by the Australasian elliptical scattering of the meteorite, it is the largest and smallest of the tektite “fields”. It was formed by the fall of a meteorite approximately 788 thousand years ago. By the way, that meteorite almost destroyed the human race.

Still, searching for actual fragments of an extraterrestrial meteorite is an important task because it will allow us to learn a lot about other systems. Unfortunately, according to scientists, due to the high speed, any “guest” will most likely burn up completely in the Earth’s atmosphere. Only a small fraction of its mass can reach the surface.