First ‘alien’ object found on Earth: Harvard physicist Avi Loeb says hundreds of tiny fragments he found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean came from outside our solar system

Scientists have recovered interstellar material on Earth for the first time in history, an analysis confirms.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb announced Tuesday that the hundreds of tiny metal fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean originated outside of our solar system.

About 700 metallic spherical objects have been found to contain alloys unique to interstellar space, formed in the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.

The remains came from a meter-tall object that crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014, which Loeb said was an alien ship.

He and a team spent two weeks in June searching the seafloor hoping to find evidence that could support his theory.

Though the announcement doesn’t confirm any extraterrestrials, Loeb considers it a historic discovery “because it’s the first time humans have laid their hands on materials from a large object that arrived on Earth from outside the solar system.”

The remains came from a meter-tall object that crashed off the coast of Papua, New Guinea, in 2014, which Loeb said was an alien ship

“The success of the expedition underscores the importance of taking risks in science against the odds to gain new knowledge,” Loeb wrote on Medium.

Loeb and his team traveled to a location where the IM1 meteor is believed to have crashed almost a decade ago.

Harvard scientists worked closely with the US military for years to locate the impact zone near Papua New Guinea and sift through data to determine if and when the object fell from space.

The US Space Command confirmed in April 2022 that the 1.5-foot meteorite came from another solar system, making it Earth’s first known interstellar visitor.

And this, according to Loeb, provides further evidence to support his theory.

Loeb made a name for himself for openly believing that extraterrestrials had made contact with Earth.

In 2021, the physicist published a book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, in which he argued that Oumuamu is not a comet or asteroid but a light sail – a method of propelling spacecraft.

Discovered millions of miles away by a telescope in Hawaii in October 2017, Oumuamua was initially believed to be Earth’s first interstellar visitor until 2022.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb announced Tuesday that the hundreds of tiny metal fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean originated outside of our solar system

Data from the analysis indicated that the fragments are rich in beryllium, lanthanum and uranium and low in high iron affinity elements such as rhenium. Pictured is the composition of a fragment found on site

In 26 runs, Loeb and his team found 700 globules with a diameter of 0.05 to 1.3 millimeters in a study area of ​​a quarter square kilometer.

“The recovered beads will be analyzed using the best instruments in the world in four labs at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, the Bruker Corporation and the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea – whose vice chancellor has signed a memorandum of understanding with Harvard University. “Partnership in expeditionary research,” wrote Loeb.

Data from the analysis showed that the fragments are rich in beryllium, lanthanum and uranium, along with low levels of elements with high affinity for iron, such as rhenium – one of the rarest elements found on earth.

“Beads with the ‘BeLaU’ frequency were only found along the pathway of IM1 and not in control regions,” wrote Loeb.

The remains came from a meter-tall object that crashed off the coast of Papua, New Guinea, in 2014, which Loeb said was an alien ship

About 700 spherical metal objects were pulled from the sea, which Loeb found contained alloys found only in interstellar space

“The ‘BeLaU’ elemental abundance pattern is inconsistent with terrestrial alloys, fallout from nuclear explosions, magma-ocean abundances of Earth or its moon or Mars, or other natural meteorites in the Solar System.”

He went on to explain that there is also an “excess of heavy elements” in BeLaU, which could come from fragments ejected in ore-collapse supernovae or neutron star mergers. This is referred to as the “R-Process”.

However, the combination also reveals another pattern associated with the so-called “S-Process” that can only come from an independent origin, such as Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars.

AGB stars are the final evolutionary stage of low- and intermediate-mass stars powered by nuclear combustion.

Discovered millions of miles away by a telescope in Hawaii in October 2017, Oumuamua was initially believed to be Earth’s first interstellar visitor until 2022

“The success of the expedition illustrates the importance of taking risks in science against all odds in order to gain new knowledge,” said Loeb.

“The discovered ‘BeLaU’ spheres are waking up from afar, urging astronomers to be more curious and open-minded.”

However, fellow researchers have long criticized Loeb for his efforts.

Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told the New York Times, “People are tired of hearing about Avi Loeb’s wild claims.”

“It pollutes good science — mixing the good science we do with this ridiculous sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of space.”

Loeb addressed those comments in his Medium post, wishing “these astronomers happiness and prosperity.”

“After we spotted globules with an extrasolar composition near IM1’s trajectory, you’d better retract your published claim that US Space Command overestimated IM1’s velocity by a large factor and that IM1 was a rocky meteorite from the Solar System.” be,” he wrote.

“We now know that IM1 was interstellar.” Instead of rejecting the data, it would be better to revise their model.