Upcoming Book by Harvard Astronomer Posits That Celestial Object 'Oumuamua' Was Advanced Alien Technology

Esteemed Harvard astronomer Abraham "Avi" Loeb's new book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, slated for release at the end of this month, is said to present his “controversial theory that our solar system was recently visited by advanced alien technology from a distant star.”

According to the book’s Houghton Mifflin Harcourt marketing page:

In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have come from another star. Avi Loeb, Harvard’s top astronomer, showed it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit, and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake. There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization.
In Extraterrestrial, Loeb takes readers inside the thrilling story of the first interstellar visitor to be spotted in our solar system. He outlines his controversial theory and its profound implications: for science, for religion, and for the future of our species and our planet. A mind-bending journey through the furthest reaches of science, space-time, and the human imagination, Extraterrestrial challenges readers to aim for the stars—and to think critically about what’s out there, no matter how strange it seems.

The book continues the work began by Loeb in 2018, when along with researcher Shmuel Bialy, he published a paper in the Astrophysical Journal in which he speculated on a possible artificial origin for the unidentified cigar-shaped object—nicknamed Oumuamua—that entered our solar system in 2017.

Oumuamua was first discovered in October of that year by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii.

The paper, which asked the question “Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain ‘Oumuamua's' Peculiar Acceleration?” in its title, pondered if solar radiation could be responsible for the unusual object leaving our solar system at a greater speed than when it entered—a baffling occurrence for an inert object floating in space.

If Oumuama was a naturally occurring object, then it represented something never before seen by science.

"If radiation pressure is the accelerating force, then ‘Oumuamua’ represents a new class of thin interstellar material, either produced naturally, through a yet unknown process in the [interstellar medium] or in proto-planetary disks, or of an artificial origin," read the report.

The scientists considered that the object could be a lightsail or probe created by an advanced society.

"Considering an artificial origin, one possibility is that ‘Oumuamua' is a lightsail, floating in interstellar space as a debris from an advanced technological equipment," they wrote. "Lightsails with similar dimensions have been designed and constructed by our own civilization, including the IKAROS project and the Starshot Initiative 2. The lightsail technology might be abundantly used for transportation of cargos between planets or between stars."

"Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that ‘Oumuamua’ may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization," added the researchers.

The mysterious object was found to be following an orbit that indicated it originated outside of our solar system and wasn't simply making a return visit, nor did it release the gas and dust that would be typical of a comet.

Oumuamua’s origin and composition remain unexplained, and it has since passed out of the solar system and is no longer visible to our telescopes—which means it may forever remain a mystery.

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth will be available for purchase on January 26th.

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