Harvard astronomer believes alien debris passed Earth in 2017
A Harvard University professor released a new book, making the case that humans are likely not alone in the universe.
(CBS/WVLT) - A Harvard University professor released a new book, making the case that humans are likely not alone in the universe.
CBS4 reports that astronomer Avi Loeb’s book “Extraterrestrial” looks at the 2017 flyby of a space object that he believes was alien.
“At first people thought, well it must be a rock, just like the asteroids or comets that we have seen before within the solar system,” Loeb told CBSN Boston’s Paula Ebben. “But as they got more data on it, it looks very weird.”
The object, cigar-shaped, was seen by telescopes and was dubbed “Oumuamua,” meaning “a messenger that reaches out from the distant past” in Hawaiian. Researchers at the time said that it was 10 times as long as it was wide and traveling at speeds of 196,000 mph.
“It didn’t look like a comet yet it behaved like something that has an extra push,” Loeb said.
CBS4 reported that NASA confirmed that was “the first object ever seen in our solar system that is known to have originated elsewhere.” However, its origins are unknown.
Loeb argues in the book that the object was probably debris from advanced alien technology. It might have been, he said, a type of “light sail” propelled by sunlight.
“It’s possible that there is a lot of space junk out there or it is a probe,” he said. “We don’t know because we didn’t collect enough data, enough evidence and I’m just alerting everyone to look for objects like that so that next time there is one coming by we will examine it more carefully.”
CBS4 reported that researchers should be looking for objects like that one instead of just searching for radio signals.
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