The US Army confirms the collision of the first interstellar meteorite

Mysterious meteorite crater casts doubt on scientific calculations 0:53

(CNN) -- 

A meteorite traveled a long way from home to visit Earth.

Researchers have discovered the first known interstellar meteorite to collide with Earth, according to a recently released US Space Command document.

An interstellar meteorite is a space rock that originates outside our solar system, which is rare.

This meteor, known as CNEOS 2014-01-08, crashed off the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea on January 8, 2014.

The finding surprised Amir Siraj, who identified the object as an interstellar meteorite in a 2019 study he co-authored as a student at Harvard University.

Siraj was investigating "Oumuamua," the first known interstellar object in our solar system that was found in 2017, with Abraham Loeb, a science professor at Harvard University.

• The interstellar visitor "Oumuamua" is not an alien spacecraft, according to researchers

Siraj decided to check NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies database for other interstellar objects and found what he believed to be an interstellar meteor within days.

advertising

High speed

The high speed of the meteorite is what initially caught Siraj's attention.

The meteor was moving at a high speed, about 45 kilometers per second, relative to Earth, which moves about 30 kilometers per second around the Sun. Since the researchers measured the speed of the meteor from a moving planet, the 45 kilometers per second was not really the speed he was going.

• These meteorites landed on Earth after a journey of 22 million years

Heliocentric velocity is defined as the speed of the meteor relative to the Sun, which is a more precise way of determining an object's orbit.

It is calculated based on the angle at which the meteor hits the Earth.

The planet moves in one direction around the Sun, so the meteorite could have hit the Earth from the front, that is, in the opposite direction to which the planet moves, or from behind, in the same direction in which it moves. moves the Earth.

Since the meteor hit Earth from behind, Siraj's calculations indicated that the meteor was actually traveling at about 60 kilometers per second, relative to the Sun.

Siraj then traced the meteorite's trajectory and found that it was in an unconstrained orbit, unlike the closed orbit of other meteorites.

This means that instead of circling the Sun like other meteorites, it came from outside the solar system.

"It was probably produced by another star, ejected from that star's planetary system and by chance headed into our solar system and collided with Earth," Siraj said.

Difficulty posting

Loeb and Siraj have not been able to publish their findings in a journal because their data comes from NASA's CNEOS database, which does not release information such as the accuracy of the readings.

After years of trying to obtain the necessary additional information, they received official confirmation that it was, in fact, an interstellar meteorite, from John Shaw, deputy commander of the United States Space Command.

This command is part of the United States Department of Defense and is responsible for military operations in outer space.

• They confirm that a new interstellar object was observed crossing the solar system

"Dr. Joel Mozer, the chief scientist for Space Operations Command, the U.S. Space Force service component of U.S. Space Command, reviewed the analysis of additional data available to the Department of Defense related with this finding. Dr. Mozer confirmed that the velocity estimate reported to NASA is accurate enough to indicate an interstellar trajectory," Shaw wrote in the letter.

Siraj had moved on to other investigations and had almost forgotten about his discovery, so he was shocked by the document.

“I thought we would never know the true nature of this meteorite, that it was just locked up somewhere in the government after our many attempts, so to actually see that Department of Defense letter with my eyes was a really amazing moment,” Siraj said.

a second chance

Since receiving confirmation, Siraj said his team is working to resubmit their findings for publication in a scientific journal.

Siraj would also like to put together a team to try to recover part of the meteorite that fell into the Pacific Ocean, but admitted that would be an unlikely possibility given the sheer size of the project.

If researchers could get their hands on the "holy grail of interstellar objects," Siraj said it would be scientifically groundbreaking in helping scientists discover more about the world beyond our solar system.

NASA and the US Space Command did not initially respond to requests for comment.

Meteorite