Tiny pellets once believed by a top to be "remnants of an spacecraft" actually come from something much closer to home, a study has found. ET-hunting Professor Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University, claimed 50 iron fragments found in the Pacific Ocean were of " origin," the . But independent analysis has now suggested they are more likely a by-product of burning coal on Earth. Prof Loeb found the micrometre-sized spherules last year during an expedition off the coast of Papua New Guinea in search of fragments of a that hit Earth back in 2014. Based on the meteor's recorded speed, Loeb and his team said it was "likely interstellar in origin" and it must have left debris in its wake. It was thought the dredged-up sphere came from the meteor, as their composition is different from that of most meteorites. Prof Loeb said the spheres might be evidence of alien technology. But his peers accused him of wild speculation and sensationalism and several newly published studies have poked holes in his claims. Scientists have questioned whether the meteor was actually interstellar as it was only recorded by US
MILITARY equipment. Some researchers say it's possible the sensors made a mistake when recording its speed. Even if the meteor's speed was correctly recorded, it is not likely any significant pieces of it would survive the fall through the atmosphere, boffins have now claimed. Steven Desch of
Arizona State University and Alan Jackson of Towson University, where the study was authored, wrote: "If interstellar, practically none of the 2014-01-08 bolide would have survived entry. If it were traveling at the speeds that were reported (and necessary to be interstellar), then at least 99.8%, and probably > 99.9999% of it would have vapourised in the atmosphere, leaving insignificant quantities to be deposited on the seafloor."
NASA astrobiologist Caleb Scharf wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Well, they did indeed discover evidence of a technological civilization… right here on Earth."