29 August 2023 , 15:04
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Scientists claim they have recovered the first ever "alien" objects as material that originated outside our solar system has been found.
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb conducted research that found small metal fragments recovered from the crash site of a UFO off the coast of Manus Island. He said these "never seen before" objects found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean could point to the existence of aliens and suggest they came from interstellar space.
The fragments of iron spheres, named IM1, were detected by US spy satellites when they entered the Earth's atmosphere and plunged into the Pacific Ocean in January 2014. The fragments are 0.1 mm to 0.7mm in diameter. Professor Loeb led recovery efforts to locate the objects, with his team using a magnetic sledge to recover 750 marble-sized molten droplets from the seabed 260 miles from Papua New Guinea. The 61-year-old's research, carried out alongside US Space Command experts, found the fragments likely came from an object outside of our solar system.
The fragments of iron spheres, named IM1, were detected by US spy satellites when they entered the Earth's atmosphere and plunged into the Pacific Ocean (Prof Loeb)Today, the results of the analysis have been published, and revealed four indicators of the object's interstellar origin, namely an abundance of spherules - the millimetre-sized marbles - which have been described by Prof Loeb as "unique and remarkable". Speaking to The Irish Star the academic, originally from Israel, outlined the significance of these four indicators and what they mean for potentially proving the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life.
"This is the first time ever that humans have held materials from a large interstellar object in their hands", Prof Loeb explained. He continued: "Never before have we had the opportunity to examine materials from an object like this that came from outside the solar system. It's a historic discovery. Firstly, not only did we find a large number of spherules, but some of these spherules contained 1,000 times more elements like lanthanum and uranium than is found in spherules from within the solar system. That is a very significant overabundance.
"You do see variations between different meteorites but no more than a factor of 10 and we are seeing up to 1,000. This excess in spherules means perhaps they come from a completely different region because they're not found en masse like this on Earth, Moon, or Mars. The second thing we've seen is a reduction in volatile elements. It's well-known that meteors lose certain elements when they're exposed to a fireball because they evaporate, but these elements are particularly depleted.
"This indicates that the spherules came from an object that passed through the atmosphere and went through the fireball, rather than coming from Earth, otherwise you wouldn't lose the elements. Thirdly, the results showed drops of iron which veer from the very specific ratio found from sources in the solar system. That's a smoking gun. Lastly, we found an abundance of beryllium which is a sign of a long interstellar journey. Initially, it was just the speed of the object that stood out, but now we've gone to the source and found these four different factors, it sets the object apart from anything we've ever seen before."
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The remnants came from a meter-size object that crashed off the coast of Papua, New Guinea in 2014, (Avi Loeb / Medium)
Stein Jacobsen, who led the Harvard laboratory team, added that the abundance pattern "is unprecedented in the scientific literature." The meteor was first detected on January 8, 2014, by a US Government satellite. It had collided with Earth at more than half a meter in size and released a small percentage of the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb in its wake.
The object was documented in a NASA catalog which compiles information on the meteors recorded by the US Government. In 2019, Loeb and his undergraduate student stumbled across the document and clocked the meteor's unusual material, material strength - which was tougher than all 272 rocks in the Catalog - and speed.
In June, Prof Loeb assembled what he describes as the best team of ocean explorers in the world - including Rob McCallum, former OceanGate Expeditions consultant who had tried to raise the alarm about the doomed Titan submersible in 2018. The team placed a sledge on the ocean floor and dragged it in a motion similar to mowing the lawn with a cable connected to a ship, fittingly called the Silver Star, to collect fragments from the explosion.
On the seventh day of the expedition, the team started placing the particles they retrieved under the microscope where they found over 700 of the marble-sized molten droplets. They sent the fragments to be analyzed in four laboratories across the world to determine if they came from technology unknown to mankind.
The Professor said: "I call it space trash, like plastic in the ocean that accumulates over billions of years and isn't functioning anymore, but every now and again collides with Earth. The possibility of it coming from alien hardware is more exotic but it is a possibility. What we can say for sure is it's not from the solar system. We have four independent reasons to back that up. Whether it's technological or natural remains to be seen."
Expedition Coordinator Rob McCallum said: "These results have been well received by the entire expedition team. The findings demonstrate the success of the first exploratory expedition and pave the way for a second expedition to seek more data. We love to enable our clients' projects anywhere on Earth, but this one is out of this world".
Later this year, Prof Loeb and his team intend to return to the waters north of Papua New Guinea to hunt for larger relics of the 2014 fireball. In 2024, the team says it will visit a site off the coast of Portugal in search of the remains from a second meteor Dr Loeb and his student have asserted is of interstellar origin.