A physicist has weighed in on the mystery surrounding the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua,’ which flew past Earth back in 2017 at an unusually high speed.
Harvard professor Avi Loeb remarked during an interview with Salon that it’s possible the fast, cigar-shaped object was an interstellar spacecraft.
“At first, astronomers assumed it must be a comet, because these are the objects that are most loosely bound to stars,” Loeb said. “The problem with that was there was no cometary tail.”
Loeb wrote a book on the topic, titled: “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.” The book is set to be released next week.
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An artist’s rendering of ‘Oumuamua, a visitor from outside the solar system. Credit: The international Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA artwork by J. Pollard
“Some people say, ‘OK it’s not a comet, maybe it’s just a rock.’ But the problem is, about half a year later,…