Researchers have discovered the first known interstellar meteor to hit Earth. according to this recently released United States Space Command document. An interstellar meteor is a space rock that erupts from outside our solar system – a rare occurrence.
The discovery came as a surprise to Amir Siraj, who identified the object as follows: In a 2019 study An Interstellar Meteor he co-authored during his graduation at Harvard University.
Siraj was investigating ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object in our solar system, found in 2017 with Abraham Loeb, a professor of science at Harvard University.
Siraj decided to go through NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies database to find other interstellar objects and found that he was an interstellar meteor within a few days.
need for Speed
The meteor’s fast velocity initially caught Siraj’s eye.
The meteor was moving relative to Earth at a high speed of about 28 miles per second (45 kilometers per second), orbiting the Sun at about 18.6 miles per second (30 kilometers per second). Because the researchers measured how fast a meteor was moving on a moving planet, 45 kilometers per second was actually not How fast was it going?
Heliocentric motion is defined as the motion of a meteor relative to the Sun, a more accurate way of determining an object’s orbit. It is calculated based on the angle at which a meteor strikes the Earth. The planet moves in one direction around the Sun, so a meteor can hit Earth, meaning the Earth is moving in the same direction the planet is rotating, or backwards.
As the meteor struck Earth from behind, Siraj’s calculations stated that the meteor was actually traveling at about 37.3 miles per second (60 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun.
They then mapped the meteor’s trajectory and found that it was in an unbound orbit, unlike the closed orbit of other meteors. This means it came from outside the Solar System rather than orbiting the Sun like other meteors.
“Presumably, it was produced by another star, which had ejected from that star’s planetary system and happened to make its way into our solar system and collide with Earth,” Siraj said.
difficulty getting published
Loeb and Siraj have been unable to publish their findings in a journal because their data came from NASA’s CNEOS database, which does not provide information on how accurate the readings are.
After years of effort to obtain the necessary additional information, they received official confirmation that it was, in fact, an interstellar meteorite from John Shaw, the deputy commander of the US Space Command. The command is a part of the US Department of Defense and is responsible for military operations in outer space.
“Dr. Joel Moser, Chief Scientist for Space Operations Command, the United States Space Force Service component of the US Space Command, reviewed the analysis of additional data available to the Department of Defense related to this discovery. Dr. Moser confirmed that the velocity estimates were estimated by NASA. The information provided is sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory,” Shaw wrote in the letter.
Siraj had moved on to other research and had almost forgotten about his discovery, so the document came as a shock.
“I thought that we would never know the true nature of this meteor, that after many of our efforts it was intercepted somewhere in the government, and so actually looking at that letter from the Defense Department through my eyes really It was an incredible moment.” Yes.” Said Siraj.
Second Chance
Since receiving the confirmation, Siraj said his team has been working to resubmit their findings for publication in a scientific journal.
Siraj wants to put together a team to try to retrieve part of the meteor that landed in the Pacific Ocean, but he acknowledged that this would be an unlikely prospect due to the sheer size of the project.
If researchers were able to get their hands on the “holy grail of interstellar objects,” Siraj said it would be scientifically important in helping scientists discover more about worlds beyond our solar system.
NASA and US Space Command initially did not respond for comment.