It's not pervasive for alien objects to fall from space and collide with Earth's structures, and impacts as severe as those 66 million years ago are even rarer. But there is news that a meteorite fell from outer space and fragments of it have been discovered at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But this alien object isn't our only surprising visitor from space, and researchers predict more to come in the coming years. But when exactly did the meteorite hit Earth?
This interstellar object found on the ocean floor is essentially an interstellar meteorite. The term "interstellar object" normally incorporates a wide range of astronomical objects, such as comets, rogue planets, asteroids, and meteorites. Despite the variety of these objects, they all have one thing in common: they're not bound by the gravitational pull of any star, and as a result, they just drift freely through space. On January 8, 2014, an unusual object, described by witnesses as a flaming fireball, slammed into Earth's atmosphere. At the end of its orbit, the object collapsed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Papua New Guinea. And that's how this meteorite came to be.
After observing the object, researchers recognized it as a meteorite known as CNEOS 2014-01-08. Amir Szilagyi, director of interstellar astronomy studies at the Harvard Galileo Project, and Avi Loeb, a professor of science at Harvard University, were the first to recognize the meteorite's potential astronomical origins. Nevertheless, confirmation of the meteorite took about three years of debate. As a result, researchers are limited from disclosed information about the meteorite, and the data used to verify the object's interstellar origin, as well as to calculate its impact, is provided by a spy satellite owned by the US Department of Defense.
Avi Loeb and Amir Szilaghi wrote a 2019 paper on meteorite properties that almost correctly described the object's velocity and predictions about its origin, but because the data was classified, their unverified research was neither published nor peer-reviewed. Because it can't be verified as an interstellar object, Umumu is considered to be the first interstellar object. In fact, the meteorite was detected three years earlier than Umm Amua, so it should be the first interstellar object discovered by humans.
It wasn't until 2022 that the U.S. Space Command verified that CNEOS 2014-01-08 had indeed hit Earth, making it the first interstellar object ever recognized to have hit Earth. According to researchers, the meteorite was 1.5 meters broad and traveled through space at 200,000 kilometers per hour before crashing into the Pacific Ocean. Under the influence of the sun's gravity, the meteorite was traveling faster than the average speed of objects, indicating that the meteorite was not orbiting within the solar system and could have come from another galaxy 39bet-xsmb-xổ số tây ninh-xổ số binh phước-xổ số binh dương-xổ số đồng nai.
In the 2019 study, the authors wrote that the meteorite's velocity and orbital trajectory confirmed with 99% certainty that it originated "in the deep interior of the planetary system or in a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way. Despite being nearly 100% positive, it took three years for the USSC to recognize the researchers' work. In April 2022, the USSC issued a memo saying that the agency's researchers had formally verified the findings of Avi Loeb and Amir Szilaghi. The initial analysis of the meteorite that researchers reported to NASA was sufficient to verify the interstellar orbit. So CNEOS 2014-01-08 officially becomes the third interstellar object ever detected, and the first to hit Earth.
Ever since the existence of meteorites was verified, researchers have been interested in locating the remains of meteorites, a more challenging task than one might imagine. The meteorite detonated over the ocean, and pieces of it have likely been dropping to the bottom all these years. Amir Szilagyi, who initially evaluated the meteorite, likewise expressed significant interest in its rediscovery, given that attaining the first pieces of interstellar material was significant, and retrieving meteorites at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is even more challenging. But researchers admit that the mission's chances of success are severely poor because the meteorite's blast would probable have dispersed fragments of the fireball over a wide area of ocean, and tracking each piece would be virtually impossible.
Luckily, using tracking data from spy satellites, as well as wind and current data, researchers narrowed the search area to within 100 square kilometers. Because meteorites are metal, the team will probable utilize large magnets to identify the debris. The magnets will be attached to a vessel that will drag tiny fragments of meteorites from under the ocean. The success of this undersea expedition would be a huge victory for science, as meteorites could produce answers to questions about the nature of interstellar objects, and the discovery of these fragments would put to rest the debate over whether interstellar meteorites are natural or man-made objects.
In addition to CNEOS 2014-01-08, researchers have discovered other interstellar objects, but not all meteorites have invaded our solar system. The first interstellar objects to be detected were rogue planets that had somehow broken away from their original star systems and were just drifting around in space. Before this meteorite was officially recognized, the first interstellar object known to have traveled through our solar system was Umumu, which was detected in October 2017. Telescope images revealed Umumu hurtling at a speed greater than the sun's escape velocity, an observation that verified the object did not come from our solar system.
Unlike most objects in space, Umumu has a rocky, cigar-like appearance. It is about 400 meters tall and about 10 times as long as it is broad. Unlike meteorites, Umumu did not hit Earth, and researchers have been able to forecast its path. Apart from that, another interstellar object discovered in our solar system is 2I/Borisov, named after the person who originally observed it.
Borisov, the first rogue comet detected in our solar system, was discovered in August 2019. Telescope images indicate that its surface resembles that of an Oort cloud comet. In 2020, astronomers observed that Borisov was undergoing a motion split. While its movements are being observed by humans, it is not known whether Borisov constitutes a threat to the safety of our star system. The discovery of interstellar objects is infrequent, so for many years researchers were not prepared for their invasion.
In Amir Szilaghi's words, these objects send out signals before their presence becomes obvious, and researchers are not paying enough attention to these signals. Humans should construct an extensive network for scientific research and make full use of the atmosphere, which he views as a sensor. Fascinating studies of these interstellar objects have demonstrated that the universe is filled with objects massive and tiny that can migrate between galaxies. Researchers believe that space travel will one day advance to the point where astronauts can tour other galaxies and gather interstellar objects. In the meantime, with the resources available, researchers will continue their attempts to analyze the possibilities beyond our solar system.