Dr. Amir Siraj and Dr. Abraham Loeb of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University has written a paper on the meteorite, says the US Space Administration. However, the scientists found it difficult to publish the paper because they used confidential information from the government. 6 / “I had the pleasure of signing a note with the chief scientist of @ussfspoc, Dr. “Moser, to confirm that an interstellar object that had previously been identified was indeed an interstellar object, a confirmation that helped the wider astronomical community.” pic.twitter.com/PGlIONCSrW – US Space Administration (@US_SpaceCom) April 7, 2022 A US government-sponsored satellite designed to detect foreign missiles witnessed the fireball, Siraj wrote in Scientific American Magazine. The meteorite was unusual because of its very high velocity and unusual direction – suggesting that it came from interstellar space. The one-meter-long rock rose in the sky and rained debris into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and the Department of Defense and NASA added the meteorite to a public database. Siraj said the database, which contains information on more than 900 other fireballs recorded between 1988 and today, caught his eye. The researchers initially believed that the first interstellar object found in our solar system was discovered in October 2017. This object, 1I / ‘Oumuamua, was on its way out of the solar system when it was discovered, so the researchers did not have much time to study it. It was described as a “giant pink fire extinguisher” and was spotted by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. Siraj and Loeb had been studying Oumuamua for about eight months, but after a few days of looking at the database, they realized that the 2014 Manus Island fireball could be an older interstellar meteorite. Any space object traveling more than about 42 kilometers per second can come from interstellar space. The data showed that the 2014 Manus Island fireball struck the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of about 45 kilometers per second, which was “very promising” in terms of its designation as interstellar, Siraj said. After further research and assistance from other scientists, including government-grade information on the accuracy or level of accuracy of the data, Siraj and Loeb determined with 99.999% certainty that the object was interstellar. But their paper on the finding was rejected because the couple only had a private conversation with an anonymous U.S. government official to confirm the accuracy of the data. However, their paper got into the right hands. Matt Daniels, who was working for the Secretary of Defense’s Office at the time, read the paper and helped investigators obtain official confirmation from the government. Lt. Gen. John Shaw, the deputy commander of the U.S. Space Force, and Joel Moser, the space science chief of the industry, wrote a letter to a NASA scientist confirming the findings of Shiraz and Loeb. “Three years after our initial discovery, the first object from outside the solar system to be observed hitting Earth — the first known interstellar meteorite — has been officially identified,” Siraj wrote. He and Loeb are re-submitting the paper for publication now that the discovery has been officially confirmed, he told CBS News via email. The second interstellar object found in our solar system was discovered by the MARGO observatory in Crimea, Ukraine in 2019. It was later named “2I / Borisov” by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov, who built the telescope himself and observed the comet. More Caitlin O’Kane Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering CBS News and The Uplift.
