An artistic rendition of Oumuamua, which Loeb believes may have been an alien attempt at contact with Earth. Credit: Nagual Design/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0
Harvard astronomer Dr. Avi Loeb believes that aliens may have tried to contact us in 2017, when an object called Oumuamua flew past Earth.
In a book published in early 2021, Loeb, who was the head of Harvards astronomy department, asserts that the object may have been extraterrestrial in origin.
When the elongated, red-colored object was spotted in space, both scientists and alien enthusiasts took notice. Not shaped like natural space objects like comets and asteroids, Oumuamua was blunt in shape, measuring about a half mile in length.
The name Oumuamua comes from the Hawaiian for scout.
While the majority of scientists who have studied the object believe it is natural in origin, Loeb argues that it wouldnt be wise to rule out the alien hypothesis.
In his book Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, Loeb contends that Oumuamua is unlike any other space object known to man, and may be the product of alien technology.
Loeb stated in an email to Motherboard that The most exciting aspect of the possibility that Oumuamua is weird and unlike any asteroid or comet that we had seen before is that it might be a product of an alien technology.
If so, we might not be the sharpest cookie in the jar or the smartest kid on the block. We should search for additional interstellar objects to find out, he continued.
He rejected the mainstream opinion that, although undoubtedly strange and unique, Oumuamua was likely just a natural space object and not a product of aliens.
Most of the mainstream astronomy community continued with business as usual and ignored Oumuamuas anomaliesSome mainstream astronomers tried to explain the anomalies but needed to invoke objects that were never seen before, like a hydrogen iceberg or a dust bunny, that are not likely to survive the long interstellar journey.
For its part, NASA states that the object likely came from another solar system and did not behave like a comet in space. Astronomers have never seen a natural object with such extreme proportions in the solar system before, according to NASA.
When Oumuamua was first charted in 2017, Loeb argued that the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia should listen for radio waves coming from the object to help determine if it was an attempt at contact from extraterrestrials, but no radio waves were discovered.
My point is that it is very difficult to explain the weird properties of Oumuamua with conventional natural processes, so studying objects of its type in the future will either educate us about an unusual natural source or about another civilizationLets collect evidence, and not rely on prejudice, he stated.
Loeb is an Israeli-American theoretical physicist and astronomer. He currently serves as the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard, and was the longest serving chair of the Department of Astronomy at the prestigious university.
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Top Harvard Astronomer Believes Aliens Have Tried to Contact Us - Greek Reporter
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