A Harvard University astrophysicist believes signals from intelligent alien life forms appeared in our skies, from the mysterious light point in 2017.
On October 19, 2017, Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk discovered a strange phenomenon while examining some images taken from the Pan-Starrs 1 telescope.
The observing system is located in Haleakala, atop a volcano over 3,000 meters above sea level on the island of Maui, capturing images of the sky of the Earth each night and recording the results with the local cameras. highest resolutions in the world.
Pan-Starrs 1 is designed to track “near-earth objects”, most of which are directional meteors that traverse space around our planet and move at an average speed of nearly 65,000 km / h.
On that fateful day, Weryk spotted a bright spot traveling at nearly 322,000 km / h, more than four times normal.
“Oumuamua”
Weryk quickly informed his colleagues. Together, they traced the mysterious luminous point through images from other observatories, but the more they analyzed it, the more they found that this “bright point” behaved in a puzzling way.
According to scientists, this is a small object, only about an ordinary neighborhood. Given the confusing changes in light as it moves through space, this object can take on a very unusual shape.
Some scientists believe that this strange object has a long, smooth shape, like a space cigar. Others think the object is clear and flat, like a pizza in the middle of the galaxy.
The most unusual thing is the direction of flight of the object. Instead of moving on an elliptical path by the Sun’s gravity, the light point appears to be moving in a straight line against the gravitational pull of the solar system’s central star.
Scientists concluded that the light spot detected by Weryk did not “behave” like any other object ever recorded.
They called the September 13, 2017 light spot an “interstellar object” – a “guest” from beyond the solar system and visiting our region of space.
In the archives of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), this object is identified as 1I / 2017 U1. Scientists even gave it the nickname “Oumuamua” – a Hawaiian word for “recognition”.
The mystery of “recognition”
Oumuamua or 1I / 2017 U1 moves as if it is not obeying the law of gravity, as if it is being pushed back by an additional force. Normally, comets also have the same ability to move, releasing gaseous matter and forming the tail of a comet.
But the image observed by scientists shows that 1I / 2017 U1 does not have a “tail”. The special telescopes also did not detect any signs that 1I / 2017 U1 released other material in the same way comets did, whether water vapor or dust.
“It’s clearly an anomalous object. Unfortunately, we don’t have any new recordings from Oumuamua because it’s too dark and too far away,” a NASA video shared.
A team once believed that 1I / 2017 U1 was a “tiny comet” and that its tail was made up of “unusual chemicals” that the telescope could not pick up. Another group hypothesizes that 1I / 2017 U1 is composed of frozen hydrogen gas. With this hypothesis, they both explained the strange shape of the object and were able to explain its rapid “disappearance”: 1I / 2017 U1 had mostly evaporated on entering the solar system.
The most daring hypothesis for 1I / 2017 U1 comes from Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. “Oumuamua” doesn’t behave like ordinary interstellar objects, like comets, because it’s just not an interstellar object, he said. He recognized the possibility that 1I / 2017 U1 was the product of an extraterrestrial civilization.
Arguing in a 2018 article, published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Loeb and his colleague Shmuel Bialy suggested that “Oumuamua” has “non-gravitational acceleration”.
The two scientists identified the object as the “forgotten car” of the aliens, drifting between regions of interstellar space like a piece of junk. But there is also the possibility of a “functionally functional probe”, introduced into the solar system for exploration.
Loeb and Bialy suggest that the second hypothesis is even more likely than the first. According to them, in the case where 1I / 2017 U1 is an object floating in mid-galactic space, the probability of it passing through Earth is absurdly low.
“When you take out the impossible, all that remains – unbelievable as it is – is the truth,” Sherlock Holmes, famous fictional detective character from writer Arthur Conan Doyles, quoted his hypothesis.
Loeb and Bialy’s arguments naturally sparked countless arguments and angry reactions from colleagues. Paul M. Sutter, an astrophysicist at the University of Ohio, says there is no way 1I / 2017 U1 could be an alien spacecraft.
“The authors of this article have insulted honest scientific research by referring to this hypothesis,” he wrote.
Benjamin Weiner, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, criticized Avi Loeb for promoting speculative assumptions and forcing other scientists to work hard to use science to refute speculations he has made.
The media then looked at Avi Loeb’s life through the lens of curiosity rather than trust in the bold scientific hypothesis he was pursuing.
The criticism did not weaken Loeb. He followed up with a colleague from the Korea Institute of Astronomy and Space Science to publish further research that refutes the hypothesis that Oumuamua is “frozen hydrogen.”
Their work is dense with complex equations, leading to the conclusion that it is impossible for a “frozen hydrogen” object to survive interstellar travel like Oumuamua.
Avi Loeb has just completed a book that elaborates on his hypothesis – “Aliens: The First Signs of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life”.
Loeb believes science has a stronghold of prejudice that tries to silence him, although they cannot prove why “Oumuamua” is against all the rules.
In the book, Loeb argues that the only way to explain Oumuamua’s abnormal acceleration (provided the reverse hypothesis is not used) is to assume that the object is propelled by solar radiation.
In order for photons from the Sun to exert a repulsion on the object’s surface, 1I / 2017 U1 must be incredibly thin and no more than 1mm thick, with a very low density of matter and a large area.
This object will act like a sail, but the thrust is generated by light and not by wind as on Earth. The natural world does not make its own sails.
“Oumuamua was certainly designed, built and launched by alien intelligence,” writes Avi Loeb.
