Harvard scientists: Interstellar Oumuamua object may be alien probe

An
artist’s depiction of interstellar object ‘Oumuamua, which
astronomers believe is a comet (not an
asteroid).

ESA/Hubble;
NASA; ESO; M. Kornmesser

• Harvard scientists have raised the possibility that a
  mysterious cigar-shaped interstellar object, the first of its
  kind ever found in our solar system, could have come from an
  alien civilization. 
• The scientists sought to explain quirks in Oumuamua’s
  movement by calculating whether it could be powered by the
  sun’s radiation. 
• Nobody knows what Oumuamua is or where it came from,
  and it’s too late to find out for sure. 

Harvard scientists have raised the possibility that a mysterious
cigar-shaped interstellar object, the first of its kind ever
found in our solar system, could be a probe intentionally sent
towards Earth from an alien civilization. 

A Hawaiian telescope first spotted ‘Oumuamua —
meaning “a messenger from afar, arriving first” in Hawaiian
— in October 2017. The metal-rich object was found to
be about 750 feet by 115 feet in size and reddish in color. It
was moving inexplicably fast but not circling the sun.

Instead, it had dived between Mercury and the sun and was zooming
past Earth on its way out of our solar system. This path meant
that ‘Oumuamua was an interstellar traveler from beyond the solar
system. Scientists first called the object an
asteroid, then later deemed it a
mildly active comet. But ‘Oumuamua didn’t show the typical
signs of a comet, like a tail of dust and gas.

Just in case, a
stronomers pointed powerful
radio telescopes at the object to scan for radio transmissions.
But they found nothing.

Since ‘Oumuamua’s discovery, however, scientists have
continued to wonder whether it could have originated from
some intelligent life-form.

A new paper from Harvard scientists Shmuel
Bialy and Abraham Loeb suggests that quirks in Oumuamua’s
rotation and speed could be the result of solar-powered movement.
That means the object would be made of some thin material that
could absorb radiation from the sun — either a naturally created
material that we’ve never seen before, or something made by
aliens. 

‘Oumuamua “might be a lightsail of artificial origin,” the
paper states, referring to an object designed to use solar
radiation for propulsion. Humans have experimented before with
lightsails, but the idea remains in its infancy.

“One possibility is that ‘Oumuamua is a lightsail, floating
in interstellar space as a debris from an advanced technological
equipment,” the paper states.

The idea that the object could have been part of some
massive alien solar-powered technology may seem far-fetched, but
the authors go on to suggest an even more “exotic”
explanation. 

“Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that ‘Oumuamua
may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth
vicinity by an alien civilization,” the paper states.

The authors argue that if ‘Oumuamua is just a random
interstellar rock, we should have seen more objects like it. That
fact, combined with the object’s strange movements, suggest it
could have its own source of power beyond gravitational pulls,
the authors suggest.

‘Oumuamua has already passed Earth on its way out of the
solar system, so the object is too far away for scientists to
continue studying it. That means
 the origin,
behavior, and makeup of ‘Oumuamua will remain a mystery. So the
Harvard authors’ “exotic” guesses are just as good as anyone’s at
this point.

Loeb told NBC News that his
idea that ‘Oumuamua could be alien-made was “purely scientific
and evidence-based.”

“I follow the maxim of Sherlock Holmes: When you have
excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable,
must be the truth,” Loeb said.