The U.S. military has confirmed, years after the impact, that a meteorite that hit earth in 2014 was interstellar in origin.
It is believed to be the first known object to travel to earth from outside our solar system.
The meteorite in question caught scientists’ eyes even back then due to the high velocity with which it entered Earth’s atmosphere (over 130,000 miles per hour). As noted in a new paper from Avi Loeb and Amir Siraj, such speeds usually originate in a star or star system that would have to be outside our own.
The meteorite’s 2014 impact predates 2017’s Oumuamua, which some believed to be extraterrestrial in origin.
The findings in this paper were withheld until the U.S. military could declassify some data about the meteorite, which burned and broke apart upon entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Siraj believes pieces of it may be found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, but finding these would require additional time and resources.
