US Space Command confirms object that hit Earth in 2014 was interstellar

The US Space Command (USSC) recently confirmed that a meteor that struck Earth in January 2014 came from another solar system, making it the first interstellar object.

The USSC posted a document on Twitter earlier this month, confirming Harvard astronomers Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb’s findings that a space rock from another star system did contact Earth in 2014. The meteor’s velocity and trajectory showed it was extrasolar in origin. According to the US space agency, the rocky body, which measured about 1.5 feet wide, was undoubtedly an interplanetary object.

The new finding puts back the first verified detection of an extrasolar visitor by three years. The interstellar object known as Oumuamua, discovered in 2017, has now become the second interstellar visitor to our solar system.

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In 2019, Dr Siraj and Dr Loeb published a study on the scientific preprint service ArXiv arguing for the meteor’s extrasolar origin. With 99.999 percent certainty, the scientists concluded that the meteor came from interstellar space. However, since the article relied on data from specific sensors utilised by the US Department of Defense, the two were unable to publish it in a peer-reviewed publication.

Dr Sirah and Dr Loeb have calculated in their research that an extrasolar meteor strikes Earth once every ten years, with more than 450 million extrasolar meteors hitting our planet so far. They even believe that such interplanetary ambassadors may bring proof of extraterrestrial life. ‘Potentially, interstellar meteors could deliver life from another planetary system and mediate panspermia’, their study read.

Furthermore, rather than being an extrasolar asteroid, Abraham Loeb has proposed that Oumuamua might have been a sort of Alien technology. However, this is now a minority viewpoint in the astronomical community. On the other side, Amir Siraj has stated that he wants to organise an expedition to check whether any bits of the 2014 meteorite can be collected from the ocean.