Scientists think that some material they’ve scraped from bottom of the Pacific Ocean came from out of solar system

Gone are the days when being “out of this world” was enough to capture attention. Nowadays, to truly stand out, you need to venture into the realms of “out of the solar system” or “out of the galaxy” because it’s not every day that we encounter something that has traveled such inconceivable distances and ended up here on Earth.

Let’s delve into one such remarkable discovery.

Scientists believe that they have stumbled upon material retrieved from the depths of the Pacific Ocean that actually traveled billions of miles, originating from beyond our solar system. These findings have ignited quite the curiosity and debate within the scientific community.

This intriguing material is believed to have originated from a meteor, one that was closely tracked by US government satellites. The meteor, designated as IM1, disintegrated over the Pacific in 2014, and it was suspected to have carried substances from beyond our solar system.

Leading this mission to uncover remnants of the meteor was none other than Avi Loeb, the renowned astronomer from Harvard University. Loeb and his team employed powerful rare-earth magnets to sift through hundreds of spherules, each ranging from 0.05 to 1.3 millimeters in diameter, within sediment located a staggering 2 kilometers beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 85 kilometers north of Manus Island.

An initial examination of 57 mineral objects has raised eyebrows, as some of these objects do not exhibit the expected chemistry found in our Solar System. This has led to speculation that IM1 could indeed have journeyed from beyond our Solar System, traversing the vast expanse of interstellar space.

Charles Hoskinson, an American entrepreneur who funded the expedition to uncover the meteor’s remains, expressed his excitement at the findings, calling it a historic discovery. He stated that this marks the first time humans have acquired materials from a substantial interstellar object.

It’s worth noting that while these conclusions are certainly intriguing, they have yet to undergo rigorous evaluation. The study has been made available on the pre-print server Arxiv but has not yet undergone the peer-review process, as reported by ScienceAlert.