In 2023, researchers discovered materials on the seafloor near Manus Island in Papua New Guinea that were initially considered to be of extraterrestrial origin.
This discovery occurred following the entry of a meteorite into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2014, which raised the hypothesis that its fragments could have reached the ocean.
Although this discovery initially suggested a breakthrough in the understanding of interstellar objects, subsequent and deeper analyzes have cast doubt on whether these materials actually came from outside the Earth, questioning the idea that they belong to an interstellar meteorite.
Vibrations generated by a truck
Now, the situation has been further complicated by the results of new research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University. The new study suggests that the sound waves, initially attributed to the 2014 meteorite impact, almost certainly came from a much more mundane source: vibrations generated by a truck traveling on a road near the seismometer used for detection. .
“The signal changed direction over time, coinciding exactly with a road that passes next to the seismometer,” Benjamin Fernando, a Johns Hopkins planetary seismologist who led the research, said in a news release from the institution.
“It is very difficult to take a signal and confirm that it is not coming from something. But what we can do is show that there are many signs like this, and show that they have all the characteristics that we would expect from a truck and none of the characteristics that we would expect from a meteorite,” he added.
First interstellar visitor to collide with Earth?
This turn of events raises doubts about the initial claim that an interstellar meteorite had hit Earth. The story began when an object entered the atmosphere over the western Pacific on January 8, 2014, and was identified by Avi Loeb, a renowned Harvard professor, and his team as potentially interstellar (in addition to even having an extraterrestrial technological origin). due to its high speed. This discovery, if confirmed, would have been the third known interstellar visitor to the Solar System, and the first to impact our planet. A specific place in the ocean was even proposed where the remains could have fallen and sunk.
However, subsequent analyzes and interpretation of the data suggest that the object’s speed was overestimated and that its origin may not be interstellar. Furthermore, according to Fernando, the actual location of the atmospheric event was significantly far from where the oceanographic expedition searched for the fragments, indicating that not only was the wrong signal used but also that they were searching in the wrong place.
The previous year, fragments of a meteorite were recovered from the sea near Papua New Guinea. However, subsequent investigations questioned whether the spheres found really came from “extraterrestrial technology.”
“The location of the fireball was actually very far from where the oceanographic expedition went to recover these meteorite fragments,” Fernando added. “Not only did they use the wrong signal, they were looking in the wrong place,” he added.
What was recovered from the water?
This raises questions about the nature of objects removed from the ocean. According to specialists, it is possible that the finds consist of small particles of common meteorites or meteorites that were mixed with terrestrial elements. Be that as it may, the team of researchers firmly maintains that they do not come from extraterrestrial technology.
The results of this study were presented on March 12 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in the United States.