Alien life was spotted zooming around our solar system a few years ago according to a renowned astronomer.
Professor Avi Loeb, who worked with the late Stephen Hawking, made claims in his new book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, that the unusual object observed in our solar system was a kind of alien technology.
In October 2017, astronomers spotted an object traveling so fast it could have only come from another star. It was no ordinary rock because it accelerated in a different direction from the expected trajectory after slingshotting around the sun, propelled by an unknown force.
Scientific peers dismissed the object, but Loeb argues the best way to explain the object’s highly unusual characteristics is if it was alien technology.
The 58-year-old professor was the longest-serving chair of astronomy at Harvard and has published hundreds of pioneering papers, which makes him difficult to dismiss outright.
According to Phys.org, Loeb told AFP:
“Thinking that we are unique and special and privileged is arrogant,”
“The correct approach is to be modest and say: ‘We’re nothing special, there are lots of other cultures out there, and we just need to find them.'”
Loeb dubbed the object ‘Oumuamua’, meaning ‘scout’ in Hawaiian.
The professor reasons because there was no visible evidence of the object expelling gas and debris, extraterrestrial technology is likely the cause of its high-speed change of direction. The traveler tumbled strangely, brightening and dimming in scientists’ telescopes. It was also unusually luminous, possibly suggesting it was made from a bright metal, according to Phys.org.
Scientists have come up with novel theories to explain the object’s uniqueness, suggesting it was made of hydrogen ice and would therefore not have visible trails, or that it disintegrated into a dust cloud.
Loeb told AFP:
“These ideas that came to explain specific properties of ‘Oumuamua’ always involve something that we have never seen before,”
“If that’s the direction we are taking, then why not contemplate an artificial origin?”
‘Oumuamua’ was never captured on camera while flying through our solar system as it was only discovered on its way out, reported Phys.org.
While un-photographed, scientists came up with two shapes to explain its peculiar movements: long and thin like a cigar, or flat and round like a pancake, almost razor-thin.
