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A scientific article led by two researchers at Harvard University caused a sensation this week by claiming that an alien resembling a cigar-shaped rock was allegedly sent by extraterrestrials.
The article said it was an "exotic scenario," but that "Oumuamua could be a fully operational probe sent to the Earth's surroundings by an extraterrestrial civilization." ".
"Artificial Veil"
Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to enter our solar system, accelerated faster away from the sun than expected, hence the idea that a kind of artificial sail operating in the sun – called light sail – could have helped to move it into space.
unexplained phenomena, namely the excessive acceleration of Oumuamua, that we show can be explained by the strength of the sun's radiation pressure, "told AFP the co- Harvard author and astrophysicist, Shmuel Bialy, by e-mail
The body has a very large surface and is very thin, which is not encountered in nature. "
Their suggestion of an extraterrestrial force at work has become viral.
But other astronomy experts have not bought it. "Like most scientists, I would like that there is compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life, but that's not it," said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astrophysicist at Queens University, Belfast.
"Impossible to guess"
Katie Mack, a well-known astrophysicist, also contested the alien hype. "Scientists are perfectly happy to publish a strange idea if it has the slightest chance of not being wrong," she wrote on Twitter. "But until all other possibilities have been exhausted a dozen times, even the authors probably do not believe it."
Asked to know if he believed in the hypothesis that he had advanced, Ms. Bialy told AFP: "I would not say that" believe " that it is sent by extraterrestrials, because I am a scientist and not a believer, I rely on evidence to propose a possible physical explanation of the phenomena observed. "
The other Co-author, Avi Loeb, president of Harvard's Department of Astronomy, told NBC News that humanity may never know more about this mysterious object because it has traveled far and wide and does not return. "It is impossible to guess the purpose of Oumuamua without more data," said Loeb.
Their article was accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and will be published on November 12. .
Oumuamua, in Hawaiian for "messenger" or "scout", was first seen by telescopes in October 2017. The extraterrestrial rock is about 400 meters long and only 130 meters wide.
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