#have aliens already visited us avi loeb

[tomasorban]

Alien Technology May Have Entered Our Solar System, Says Harvard Professor

Scientific ideas like the Drake Equation — an attempt to formalize wider theoretical parameters of intelligent life beyond Earth — have yet to give a solid figure to the possibility of life in our galaxy. If intelligent aliens are real, they've yet to leave a sign.

However, one scientist of note says they just did. When the unidentified object called 'Oumuamua zipped through our solar system in 2017, it may have been our first official encounter with alien technology — so argues astrophysicist and Harvard Professor Avi Loeb in his book, titled "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life," forthcoming on Jan. 26.

Alien technology may have entered our solar system

In his forthcoming book, Professor Loeb makes a compelling case for why the object called 'Oumuamua (pronounced "oh moo ah moo ah") — an elongated, shaft-like object that sling-shotted through our solar system in 2017 — was more than just another space rock.

'Oumuamua, he says, was probably a piece of defunct alien technology.

The object came from the direction of the star Vega — a nearby star 25 light-years away — and crossed into the plane of our solar system on Sept. 6, 2017.

"It intercepted the orbital plane, within which all of the planets in our solar system revolve around the sun, on September 6, 2017," wrote Loeb. "But the object's extreme hyperbolic trajectory guaranteed it would only visit, not stay."

'Oumuamua displayed small, consistent acceleration

After passing the perihelion, the closest position to the Sun of 'Oumuamua's trajectory, "it began to exit the solar system; its speed far away — relative to our star, it was moving at about 94,800 km per hour (58,900 miles per hour) — more than ensured its escape from the Sun's gravity," wrote Loeb in his book.

"It passed through Venus' orbital distance from the sun around September 29 and through Earth's around October 7, moving swiftly toward the constellation Pegasus and the blackness beyond," Loeb wrote.

The object then displayed a small but consistent acceleration for which the sun's gravity could not account.

Strange object's acceleration baffles scientific community

Comets do the same as they release gases — which coalesce into their signature tails. But 'Oumuamua didn't have one, nor did telescopes we'd centered on the strange object find any signs of by-products typically linked to outgassing, like dust or water vapor.

Astronomers worked to exclude one theory after another, looking for ways to make sense of 'Oumuamua's bizarre motion. It hadn't collided with another object, and it hadn't received its boost in speed from solar wind.

One research group thought the best explanation for the object was that it was a "miniature comet" whose tail went undetected, as a consequence of "unusual chemical composition." A different group suggested 'Oumuamua consisted of frozen hydrogen — a modified mini-comet hypothesis.

Key to 'Oumuamua's origin lies in its brightness, says Harvard professor

However, the most interesting account came from Professor Loeb, who argued 'Oumuamua wasn't the kind of interstellar object we expected. To him, it was an artifact of an alien civilization.

"Long before we knew of its existence, the object was traveling toward us from the direction of Vega, a star just 25 light-years away," wrote Loeb in his book.

However, ground- and space-based observations following the outward trajectory of the object identified sunlight reflecting off of the surface of 'Oumuamua.

"For astrophysicists, an object's changing brightness provides invaluable clues to its shape," wrote Loeb. "In the case of 'Oumuamua, the object's brightness varied tenfold every eight hours, which we deduced to be the amount of time that it took to complete one full rotation."

Harvard professor argues object was artifact of alien civilization

"This dramatic variability in its brightness told us 'Oumuamua's shape was extreme, or at least five to ten times longer than it was wide," Loeb wrote. It seemed evidence pointed to a relatively small, cigar-shaped object.

"This is definitely an unusual object," observed the narrator of a NASA video, The New Yorker reports. "And, unfortunately, no more new observations of 'Oumuamua are possible because it's already too dim and far away."

Ruling out the possibility of a comet or an asteroid, Professor Loeb concluded only one explanation remained: the baffling object is an artifact of advanced technology from an alien civilization.

'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'

"Our civilization has sent five man-made objects into interstellar space: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, and New Horizons," wrote Loeb. "This fact alone is suggestive of our unlimited potential to venture far out. So too is the behavior of our more distant ancestors."

"And if other civilizations developed out there among the stars, wouldn't they have felt that same urge to explore, to venture past familiar horizons in search of the new? Judging by human behavior, that would not be surprising in the least," concluded Loeb in his upcoming book.

Needless to say, Loeb's conclusion about the origin of 'Oumuamua is extraordinary. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," said the astronomer Carl Sagan — who has yet to be dwarfed by another scientist in his efforts to promote the search for extraterrestrial life.

Alien origin theory of object opens 'new vistas of exploration'

The best evidence Loeb cites for his 'Oumuamua theory is the absence of convincing alternative explanations. "It is not obvious to me why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," wrote Loeb, flipping the script on Sagan: "Extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant."

To Loeb, so long as the chance exists that 'Oumuamua is an alien probe, ruling out the possibility could make fools of us all. "If we acknowledge that 'Oumuamua is plausibly of extraterrestrial-technology origin," writes Loeb, "whole new vistas of exploration for evidence and discovery open before us."

For standing by his convictions, Loeb risks (and has weathered) serious ridicule. On a historical basis, the odds are stacked against his theory. Yet considering the statistical likelihood of life beyond our home planet against the stark contrast of lacking evidence — known as the Fermi Paradox — it's hard to resist the exciting possibilities that could unfold if we knew technology from an alien civilization did, in fact, enter our solar system.

#oumuamua #Astronomy #science #extraterrestrials #mystery

[streamword88]

Harvard stargazer contends that outsider vessel visited us

WASHINGTON – Discovering there’s intelligent life beyond our planet could be the most transformative event in human history — but what if scientists decided to collectively ignore evidence suggesting it already happened?

That’s the premise of a new book by a top astronomer, who argues that the simplest and best explanation for the highly unusual characteristics of an interstellar object that sped through our solar system in 2017 is that it was alien technology.

Sound kooky? Avi Loeb says the evidence holds otherwise, and is convinced his peers in the scientific community are so consumed by groupthink they’re unwilling to wield Occam’s razor.

Loeb’s stellar credentials — he was the longest-serving chair of astronomy at Harvard, has published hundreds of pioneering papers, and has collaborated with greats like the late Stephen Hawking — make him difficult to dismiss outright.

“Thinking that we are unique and special and privileged is arrogant,” he said in a video call.

“The correct approach is to be modest and say: ‘We’re nothing special, there are lots of other cultures out there, and we just need to find them.'”

Loeb, 58, lays out the argument for the alien origins of the object named ‘Oumuamua — “scout” in Hawaiian — in “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.”

The facts are as follows.

In October 2017, astronomers observed an object moving so quickly, it could only have come from another star — the first recorded interstellar interloper.

It didn’t seem to be an ordinary rock, because after slingshotting around the sun, it sped up and deviated from the expected trajectory, propelled by a mysterious force.

This could be easily explained if it was a comet expelling gas and debris — but there was no visible evidence of this “outgasing.”

The traveler also tumbled in a strange way — as inferred by how it got brighter and dimmer in scientists’ telescopes, and it was unusually luminous, possibly suggesting it was made from a bright metal.

https://zenodo.org/communities/hasemmm/

In order to explain what happened, astronomers had to come up with novel theories, such as that it was made of hydrogen ice and would therefore not have visible trails, or that it disintegrated into a dust cloud.

https://zenodo.org/communities/lahhtaiii/

“These ideas that came to explain specific properties of ‘Oumuamua always involve something that we have never seen before,” said Loeb.

https://zenodo.org/communities/numpakananya/

“If that’s the direction we are taking, then why not contemplate an artificial origin?”

https://zenodo.org/communities/numpakanmariaozawa/

‘Oumuamua was never photographed close-up during its brief sojourn — we only learned of its existence once it was already on its way out of our solar system.

https://zenodo.org/communities/numpakanmiahalipa/

There are two shapes that fit the peculiarities observed — long and thin like a cigar, or flat and round like a pancake, almost razor thin.

https://zenodo.org/communities/numpakannikitajane/

Loeb says simulations favor the latter, and believes the object was deliberately crafted as a light sail propelled by stellar radiation.

https://zenodo.org/communities/numpakanberlinbintang/

Another oddity was the way the object moved — compounding the strangeness of its passage.

Before encountering our Sun, ‘Oumuamua was “at rest” relative to nearby stars — statistically very rare. Rather than think of it as a vessel hurtling through space, from the object’s perspective, our solar system slammed into it.

“Perhaps ‘Oumuamua was like a buoy resting in the expanse of the universe,” writes Loeb.

Like a trip wire left by an intelligent lifeform, waiting to be triggered by a star system.

Loeb’s ideas have placed him at odds with fellow astronomers.

Writing in Forbes, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel called Loeb a “once-respected scientist” who, having failed to convince his peers of his arguments, had taken to pandering to the public.

Loeb, for his part, protests a “culture of bullying” in the academy that punishes those who question orthodoxy — just as Galileo was punished when he proposed the Earth was not the center of the universe.

Compared to speculative yet respected branches of theoretical physics — such as looking for dark matter or multiverses — the search for alien life is a far more commonsense avenue to pursue, he said.

That’s why Loeb’s pushing for a new branch of astronomy, “space archaeology,” to hunt for the biological and technological signatures of alien life.

“If we find evidence for technologies that took a million years to develop, then we can get a shortcut into these technologies, we can employ them on Earth,” said Loeb, who spent his childhood on an Israeli farm reading philosophy and pondering life’s big questions.

Such a discovery could also “give us a sense that we are part of the same time” as humanity confronts threats ranging from climate change to nuclear conflict.

“Rather than fight each other like nations do very often, we would perhaps collaborate.”

[stephanspiritual]

Aliens, UFOs and government files: The Harvard astronomer who says aliens have already visited us | The Independent

[kathleenseiber]

Listen: Have aliens already visited us?

One scientist claims aliens have already visited us and we should invest more in searching for extraterrestrials.

Avi Loeb is a theoretical physicist, former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University, and author of a new book called Extraterrestrial: the First Signs of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (HMH Books, 2021).

For the past few years, he’s argued that an alien artifact, called Oumuamua, passed by Earth in 2017.

As you can imagine, a Harvard professor going on record that aliens exist caused quite a stir in the scientific community.

“People tend to have an opinion ahead of time, and I think that’s dangerous because we just don’t know who lives in our neighborhood and what their objectives are,” says Loeb.

“Because it has huge implication to ourselves. The way we view ourselves, there is something really fundamental about finding others that would say something about us, would say something about our future. So the stakes are really high.

“It will have a huge impact on society, but that’s exactly the reason why I think we should invest funds in finding the answer.”

On this episode of the University of Chicago’s Big Brains podcast, Loeb talks through this controversy and explains why he thinks we need to invest more in the search for alien life by developing a new field of “space archaeology.”

You can find the transcript for this episode here. Subscribe to Big Brains on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Source: University of Chicago

The post Listen: Have aliens already visited us? appeared first on Futurity.

Listen: Have aliens already visited us? published first on https://triviaqaweb.weebly.com/

[bisokubira1995]

An alien machine already visited us, Harvard astrophysicist still contends

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb says he has found good evidence for alien technology in the solar system, what could be called alien garbage, and that some other scientists don't take his ideas seriously because of "groupthink."In his new book "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), set to be published Jan. 26, Loeb describes his journey to a radical position on the strange interstellar visitor that's been dubbed 'Oumuamua - a cigar- or disc-shaped object that whizzed through our solar system in 2017.When 'Oumuamua flashed through the sun's neighborhood in 2017, scientists didn't get a very good look at it, as it moved through so quickly. But even with those disadvantages, crp129x. observers noted several anomalies. Loeb published a paper in 2018 arguing that the data showed an object unlikely to exist in nature: a wide, super-thin disk being pushed by sunlight and moving 16 miles per second (26 kilometers per second) through interstellar space relative to the sun. The solar system, according to Loeb, was possibly being visited by an alien light sail - possibly one that had been thrown out like technological trash by an intelligent alien civilization. He has consistently defended this idea in the years since, even as the wider scientific community has settled on the view that the object was probably natural.Related: Extraterrestrial evidence: 10 incredible findings about aliensIn "Extraterrestrial," Loeb makes his case for the alien interpretation of ‘Oumuamua, while responding to the bulk of the scientific community that leans toward more mundane, natural explanations. 'Oumuamua's biggest anomalies, which Loeb says are most important to the case for its alien origin, are its shape, its shininess and the way it moved.Without a clear image of 'Oumuamua to work with, astronomers were left to infer its shape and size from its light - both the intensity and the way it rapidly brightened and dimmed as it rotated once every seven or eight hours. The significant difference between its brightest and dimmest reflections of sunlight led early observers to conclude it's much longer than it was wide and surprisingly bright, matching no asteroid or comet ever seen in the solar system.That led to two possibilities: an unusually shiny, narrow cigar-shaped object, or a somewhat smaller, extraordinarily shiny disc. Later research showed that a disc was somewhat more likely based on the data, though the conventional view has leaned toward a cigar shape, which is easier to explain in nature, according to both Loeb and other researchers who have looked at the problem.The final anomaly, and the one Loeb sees as most important, was that 'Oumuamua seemed to accelerate as it moved away from the sun. A space rock moving only due to gravity shouldn't do this, though a comet might. As the sun heats the side of a comet, gas bursts from its surface. That "off-gassing" can act like burning fuel that escapes from the bottom of a rocket engine, pushing a comet to higher velocities and new directions through space.But the very precise telescopes trained on 'Oumuamua didn't see a trail of gas leading away from the object, which would be expected in the wake of a normal comet. That, combined with the likely disc shape, point to the object being light sail pushed by the sun, according to Loeb. The device might not have been sent deliberately to the solar system, he wrote. Instead, it could be the garbage of a civilization that produces huge numbers of machines that end up drifting uselessly through space - the equivalent of technological trash or "e-waste" on Earth.Related: The 12 strangest objects in the universe"A buoy. A grid of pods for communication. Signposts that an extraterrestrial civilization could navigate by. Launch bases for probes. Other intelligent living organisms' defunct technology or discarded technological trash," he wrote. "These all are plausible explanations for the ‘Oumuamua mystery - plausible because here on Earth, humanity is already doing these things, albeit on a far more limited scale, and we would certainly consid...