A strange space of travel could be an alien ship, say Harvard scientists

According to a new study, an object resembling a large flat and flat rock traveling in space with a "special acceleration" could be an extraterrestrial craft.

"Could be a fully operational probe sent intentionally near the Earth by an extraterrestrial civilization," says an article by two Harvard scientists to be published Nov. 12 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Scientists were confused by the interstellar object that had been seen for the first time behind a sunbeam through telescopes on Maui. He was nicknamed 'Oumuamua, which means' scout' in Hawaiian.

Due to the unusual shape and speed of his cigar, some quickly badumed that it came from an extraterrestrial civilization. Radio waves were scanned, but none was detected. Other scientists have estimated that it was a comet, despite the lack of a traditional tail.

Now Professor Avi Loeb, Chairman of the Harvard Astronomy Department, and Postdoctoral Fellow Shmuel Bialy again raised the possibility that it is a foreign ship – or perhaps of a

A certain "divergence" in the movement of the object "is easily solved if" Oumuamua does not follow a random trajectory, but rather constitutes a targeted probe, "write Such a probe may have been intentionally sent for a "reconnaissance mission in the inner region of the solar system," said Loeb in an e-mail sent to Universe Today.

object is propelled into space by a natural phenomenon or it could be an extraterrestrial spacecraft that sits on an "artificial" light sail that relies on the pressure of solar radiation to generate a propulsion, selo n Loeb.

"There is data on the orbit of this object for which there is no other explanation. So we wrote this document suggesting this explanation, "Loeb told the Boston Globe. "My approach to the subject is purely scientific and evidence-based."

Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center, described the document as "intriguing" in an e-mail addressed to the Globe.

"Anomalies of Observation As we see with Oumuamua, coupled with cautious reasoning, this is exactly the method by which we make new discoveries in astrophysics, including, perhaps, incredible discoveries. like intelligent life beyond the Earth, "he wrote.

But SETI's senior astronomer, Seth Shostak, said in an email addressed to NBC that we must not blindly accept this intelligent hypothesis when there is also a bbad explanation for & # 39; Oumuamua – namely that it's a comet or an asteroid by far. "" Oumuamua is the first interstellar object ever observed in the solar system. flight and may never be seen again.