Earth was hit by an alien object from outside our solar system about five years ago, says a new study from the Harvard astronomers. Last year, the cigar-shaped rock now named `Oumuamua’ made it to the headlines when it flew past our sun. But scientists say that this might not be the first interstellar visitor. A new paper suggested that another meteor from outside our solar system had hit the Earth’s atmosphere above Papua New Guinea.
They found the meteor while looking for objects that were too fast to be orbiting the sound. This object travelled at a speed of 37 miles per second which only denotes that a speed so high must have originated outside the solar system.
The study says that this revelation ‘implies a possible origin from the deep interior of a planetary system or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy.’
“I think it is reasonable to conclude that this very high speed impactor came from the population of interstellar object,” said Kat Volk from the University of Arizona. She was not a part of the research though.
“I expect interstellar objects to be common enough – both from theoretical considerations and from the implications of ‘Oumuamua – that I think an interstellar origin is the simplest explanation for this bolide,” she added.
Earth was hit by an alien object from outside our solar system about five years ago, says a new study from the Harvard astronomers. Last year, the cigar-shaped rock now named `Oumuamua’ made it to the headlines when it flew past our sun. But scientists say that this might not be the first interstellar visitor. A new paper suggested that another meteor from outside our solar system had hit the Earth’s atmosphere above Papua New Guinea.
They found the meteor while looking for objects that were too fast to be orbiting the sound. This object travelled at a speed of 37 miles per second which only denotes that a speed so high must have originated outside the solar system.
The study says that this revelation ‘implies a possible origin from the deep interior of a planetary system or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy.’
“I think it is reasonable to conclude that this very high speed impactor came from the population of interstellar object,” said Kat Volk from the University of Arizona. She was not a part of the research though.
“I expect interstellar objects to be common enough – both from theoretical considerations and from the implications of ‘Oumuamua – that I think an interstellar origin is the simplest explanation for this bolide,” she added.
