‘Object from interstellar space hit Earth via another star system’, claims US Space Command’s memo

The year 2017 witnessed lot of talk around a suspicious object – Oumuamua. From commoners to astronomers, everyone was wondering about the whereabouts Oumuamua, which was later known to be coming from outside our solar system.

This wasn’t the first time that an object hit came so close to the Earth. According to a memo released by the US Space Command, another object from some other star system had entered space much before the Oumuamua. In 2014, that object ignited into a fireball over Papua New Guinea and sprinkled interstellar debris into the South Pacific Ocean.

The memo also confirms the theory of two Harvard University researchers, who earlier proposed that this meteor was from an interstellar space (outside our solar system)

This meter was also the first object to hit the Earth from another star system.

As per the Chief Scientist of Space Operations Command Dr. Joel Mozer, the velocity of this object indicated an interstellar trajectory. Scientists also claim that the object was just a few feet across the Earth but was big enough to leave debris into the ocean.

The discovery of this interstellar object has been done by Amir Siraj, who is pursuing astrophysics and Abraham Loeb, Jr. Professor of Science at the Harvard University.

Sharing his excitement with an international magazine – Vice, Siraj said, “I get a kick out of just thinking about the fact that we have interstellar material that was delivered to Earth, and we know where it is. One thing that I’m going to be checking—and I’m already talking to people about—is whether it is possible to search the ocean floor off the coast of Papua New Guinea and see if we can get any fragments.”

The two researchers have earlier published studies about Oumuamua, which visited the Earth in 2017.

Interestingly, the true nature of this meteor came into discover after a long time. This was because of the methods being used to detect incoming objects earlier. The sensors that identified the fireball over Papua New Guinea were the same ones that pick up nuclear detonations, which is why they were crucial from the US defense.

Giving insight into how we should understand such objects, Siraj said, “The atmosphere is already a sensor for these things. We’re just not paying attention to the signals. So we might as well use the whole atmosphere and see what comes our way.”