In honor of AstronomyDay, look back at the 2017 detection of an odd interstellar object dubbed ‘Oumuamua that prompted the launch of a project to search for alien technology on or near Earth.
The oddly shaped object that came whizzing past the Sun and Earth in 2017 on a trajectory from outside our Solar System prompted wild speculation. Most scientists think the cigar-shaped visitor, less than 1 kilometer long, was a comet or asteroid from a nearby star or some other cosmic flotsam. But theoretical astrophysicist Avi Loeb of Harvard University argued that ‘Oumuamua, Hawaiian for"scout," was an alien creation—a light sail, antenna, or even a spaceship.
The project proposes using data from existing and upcoming survey telescopes, such as the 8-meter Vera C. Rubin Observatory under construction in Chile, to look for more objects like ‘Oumuamua. Detecting incoming objects early will give researchers more time to study them than the 2 months it took before ‘Oumuamua passed out of the range of telescopes. Loeb also hopes to design—in collaboration with space agencies or companies—a launch-ready space mission to study an incomer at close quarters.
The Galileo Project also plans to look for alien artifacts closer to home. The U.S. director of national intelligence released a report to Congress last month outlining what is known about 144 reports from military and intelligence sources of unidentified aerial phenomena , aka unidentified flying objects.
"It's a reasonable question to ask, has the Earth been visited in its 4.5-billion-year history," Frank says. If we discovered obvious signs of life on nearby exoplanets, we would send probes, he says."Looking for artifacts [close to home] is a reasonable approach." But other researchers balk at the idea that UAP have anything to do with SETI."They don't seem to have any obvious connection," Wright says. Fitzsimmons was less diplomatic.
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