Now discovered: the interstellar object fell to Earth in 2014

Objects that originate from interstellar space don’t just fly through our solar system. It can now be proven for the first time that such a visitor from the outside actually arrived on Earth.

The event was held in 2014 near Papua New Guinea. A meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of a fireball. As subsequent analysis of its trajectory has now shown, it did not come from the asteroid fields of our solar system, but had its origin beyond its limits. This stems from a similar publication by the US Space Command (USSC).

The first asteroid that can be proven to have arisen in interstellar space was ‘Oumuamua – an elongated rock no more than a hundred meters long. This was observed in 2017 as it made its way through our solar system. And it wasn’t the only object whose orbit suggested it wasn’t part of our solar system.

Researchers want to dive

The objects discovered so far have been larger and have not reached anywhere near Earth. The situation was different with the object that collided in 2014. However, this was relatively small and it is doubtful whether any remnants ever made it to Earth’s surface – the majority burned up when they entered the atmosphere. Even if the food scraps reach the bottom, they won’t be found since they ended up in the sea.

Despite this, there is a great desire to get something from the first known meteorite to come from another solar system. said Amir Siraj, a student from Harvard University, whose team calculated the trajectory.

See also:

Outer space, astronautics, universe, moon, planet, stars, space, asteroid, comet, asteroids