The meteor that hit the Earth came from beyond the solar system

The man who discusses interstellar object Oumuamua could have been an extraterrestrial spaceship Now indicates that a meteor that hit the earth's atmosphere in 2014 has also come from elsewhere in the Milky Way, possibly leading life with it.

Astronomer Abraham "Avi" Loeb of Harvard and undergraduate student Amir Siraj wrote a new document identifying the second cosmic object to visit the inner solar system from beyond (Oumuamua being the first). The document has been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, but has not yet been peer reviewed.

"The reported meteor entered the solar system at a speed of 60 km / s (134 216 km / h) from the local rest level (obtained by averaging the movement of all stars near the Sun)" , wrote Loeb in an email. "Such a high ejection rate can only be produced in the innermost nuclei of planetary systems – from the inside to the Earth's orbit around a star like the sun. but in the habitable zone of dwarf stars, thus allowing these objects to make their mother planets live. "

In other words, according to the calculations of Siraj and Loeb, it was a very long time ago, in a very distant star system, space debris launched at very high speed in the interstellar space. After traveling an unknown number of light-years at high speed, this interstellar intruder the size of a kitchen oven was insinuated into our atmosphere on January 8, 2014.

The resulting meteor was seen in the sky burning north of the Isle of Manus, off Papua New Guinea.

At the time, it was simply another meteoroid fireball that was consciously added to the NASA database on such events. It was only when Siraj returned and analyzed three decades of meteor data that he distinguished himself as one of the fastest moving objects that did not seem to be bound either (ie say in orbit) to a larger object in the solar system.

Loeb says their calculations suggest that an interstellar object could impact the Earth's atmosphere about once a decade.

If it succeeds, it will be the first documented case of an object coming from beyond the solar system colliding with our planet.

Loeb also says that it offers a new way to chase more interstellar bodies.

"The traditional search method uses the sun as a street lamp and looks for objects based on the sunlight reflecting them, which is how Oumuamua was detected … Many other smaller objects are expected. , some of which will reach Earth.The Earth's atmosphere can serve as a detector for objects the size of a meter. "

Loeb makes no suggestion that this long gone meteor was of an artificial nature, as he suggested in the case of Oumuamua. But he points out the possibility that such objects launched from living areas around other stars could carry life forms and sow them around the galaxy when they collide with other worlds.

"Interstellar meteors could potentially give life to another planetary system," the document concludes.

Loeb says that it might be possible to set up a system that alerts astronomers when an interstellar meteor arrives so that they can observe it while it is burning up and analyzing the gases that it leaves to determine its chemical composition.

If such an object actually carried tiny life forms from other star systems, it could be the 21st century equivalent of an extraterrestrial autopsy in real time.

Originally released at 9:15 am Pacific Time.