A very long time ago, a massive old star situated very far from our solar system exploded in a brilliant supernova that jettisoned gases and a great deal of matter into space. And one piece of metallic debris, managed to wrestle its way out of the skirmish. Untethered to any star system now, it travelled hundreds — possibly thousands — of lightyears through interstellar space, watching itself and its surroundings change as it went.
After journeying at unimaginable speeds of 45 kilometres per second from beyond our cosmic backyard, the washing machine-sized interloper finally found its resting place on Earth. In 2014, the fireball blazed through the skies before exploding into numerous fragments and sinking into the inky depths of the Pacific off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
However, when the IM1 crashed into the ocean almost a decade earlier, it was mistaken for a regular meteorite from our own solar system. And it wasn’t until 2019 that Harvard Professor Avi Loeb — already known for his 2017 claims regarding the bizarre ʻOumuamua being an extraterrestrial object passing Earth’ — proved that there was nothing ordinary about this meteorite.
Loeb suggested that the IM1’s trajectory and speed meant that it had travelled to our planet from much farther distances. Another characteristic feature that made the fireball stand out was how unusually bright it was, meaning it was likely made of some extraordinarily tough material originating from outside our solar system.
But the eccentric physics professor wasn’t satisfied with proving the object’s interstellar origins on paper. And he decided to set out on an expedition to physically comb through the Pacific to find the fragments of IM1 and see what they’re made of for himself!
That’s far from the bizarre part — Loeb and his team actually succeeded and found some 50 ‘spherules’ — small globes of material usually shed from meteorites as they enter and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Loeb wrangled these needles out of the haystack by dragging a self-invented magnetic sled across the ocean floor by the coast of Papua New Guinea.
Several other fragments found in the ocean were composed of magnesium, titanium and iron — an unusual combination of elements for Earthen and local celestial objects. Loeb hopes that this is an indicator that they originated from IM1.
Avi Loeb doesn’t rule out the possibility of IM1’s “artificial” origin. This means that he thinks the object could have also been part of an alien spacecraft that exploded above the Earth.
Meanwhile, further research is being conducted to determine the spherules’ elemental and isotopic composition, and the results should be out shortly!
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