A mysterious cigar-shaped object spotted in the solar system could be a "foreign relic", say Harvard astronomers

The researchers suggested that a mysterious cigar-shaped object, "Umuamua," which astronomers had spotted in the solar system last year, could have been an ancient alien relic. Two Harvard astronomers have suggested that it could be an artifact of an extraterrestrial civilization sent to explore the neighborhood of the Earth.

The researchers stated that the non-gravitational acceleration displayed by the object called "Oumuamua" could be explained by the effect of solar radiation pressure on a light sail, a forward-pushed sail that reflects sunlight . "Oumuamua" means "scout" in Hawaiian.

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Abraham Loeb, Professor and Chair in Astronomy, and Shmuel Bialy, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have now brought a new angle to an article submitted to The letters of the astrophysical journal.

"Our article suggests that the first evidence of extraterrestrial technology just passed on Earth last year," said Loeb, also director of the Harvard Institute of Computer Science and Theory. The telegraph by email.

Harvard astronomer's journal shows that a light sail with a thickness of only 0.3 to 0.9 mm could survive a long journey into interstellar space, free of probable collisions with atoms or dust particles .

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"One possibility is that Oumuamua is a light sail floating in interstellar space as a debris of advanced technological equipment," they wrote in their article, citing previous studies suggesting Use of bright sails for interstellar travel.

"Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that Oumuamua could be a fully operational probe, intentionally sent to the vicinity of the Earth by an extraterrestrial civilization," they said. The telegraph.

A group of Hawaiian astronomers first discovered the object on October 19, 2011 and exhibited unusual features – a dark red hue and a very elongated shape of about 800 m long – as well as A trajectory indicating an origin outside the solar system. While groups of astronomers from Europe and America observing the rapidly fading object wondered whether it was an asteroid or a comet.