Extraterrestrial

Astronomer: it's 'arrogant' to think we are alone

By T.K. Randall
February 2, 2021

Image: Artist's impression of the interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua
Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser / CC BY 4.0 (adapted) When the 400-meter-long object - which was found to have come from a distant solar system - flew past our planet back in October 2017, it became the focus of much debate and intrigue.

While most astronomers now agree that 'Oumuamua was a naturally occurring space rock, one astronomer defied this idea, instead insisting that it was a piece of extraterrestrial technology.

Enter Harvard professor Avi Loeb who in 2018 began writing a paper on the interstellar visitor in an effort to explain its various peculiarities and abnormalities.

Unlike his peers, he ultimately reached the conclusion that this was no space rock but a deliberately constructed, artificial device produced by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization.

"I approached this just like any other scientific anomaly," he told The Guardian. "I rule out possibilities and whatever looks the most plausible is what I put out. That's the way science is done."

"You just collect more evidence."Surprisingly, Loeb's unorthodox conclusion regarding the nature and origin of 'Oumuamua quickly saw him become a topic of interest in the press, with his findings appearing in numerous news outlets.

On one occasion while on his way to a conference in Berlin, he was approached by a TV crew.

"They said, 'We have to ask: Do you think we're alone in the universe?'" he recalled.

In response, he said: "A quarter of all stars host a planet the size and surface area of the Earth. It would be arrogant to think we are alone."

He has since detailed his experiences in a new book - 'Extraterrestrial' - which is out on February 4th.

"I'm not arguing we know for sure it was an artificial object," he said. "I'm saying it's a reasonable plausibility based on the evidence. And since we can't chase this one, we should do the next best thing, which is to find similar objects."

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Oumuamua