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A pair of Harvard scientists say a massive, fast-moving visitor to our solar system may have been probed by an alien civilization. Most astronomers believe Oumuamua – Hawaiian for "messenger" or "scout" – is a comet or an asteroid, except for half a mile long. But there are things about their behavior they can not quite explain. CBS News matches Tony Dokoupil.
When Oumuamua was discovered last October, it was tumbling past the sun at 196,000 mph. To some the reddish object looked like a cigar. Others thought it was shaped like a pancake.
"Avi Loeb, president of the Harvard University astronomy department, said," It looks very different from the solar system. Loeb said Oumuamua did not like the ordinary asteroid or give off gas like a comet.
"It's not so easy to push that, it's not clear what's pushing from," he added.
In an upcoming paper, he and colleague offer what they call a "more exotic scenario … Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sentenced to earth by an alien civilization."
According to their calculations, Oumuamua is a millimeter thin, but very similar to a sail, harnessing solar radiation to propel itself – similar to the spaceship used by Count Dooku in the "Star Wars" movies.
"Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, said," I just want everybody to have a gigantic grain of salt. " She said Oumuamua did not emit any signals it was a space craft.
"If you say that the top 10 list of explanations does not include alien probe, what is the top 10 explanations?" Dokoupil asked.
"It's a comet, Or an asteroid, or a rock," Faherty said.
"So where is alien civilization on the list of explanations?"
"I do not know Real Low Real Real Real Real Faherty said.
Faherty doubts Oumuamua's appearance means we're on the verge of an alien encounter like the one in the movie, "Arrival."
"Oumuamua, as it stands, is a phenomenal discovery and a really important object for astronomers to study and get excited about," Faherty said. "It's OK that it's not aliens."
Oumuamua is so far away we can not see it with our satellites. Faherty did not have a theory on how to keep up with these exotic explanations: It is very hard to believe in the existence of aliens.
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