A Harvard University professor has found some "promising material" while searching for the remains of the first confirmed interstellar object to fall to the Earth. Professor Avi Loeb launched a dredging project two weeks ago to explore the depths of the Pacific Ocean for proof he needed. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, two interstellar objects - that entered the solar system from interstellar space - have been discovered in recent years: 'Oumuamua', which was discovered in 2017, and Comet Borisov, which was discovered in 2019.
Professor Loeb started a blog on Medium in which he gave updates about the $1.5 million expedition.
The things that his team found include 50 spherules - small spheres of material mere millimetres in diameter that are characteristically shed from meteorites as they enter and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
The spherules were captured by a large magnetic sled across the ocean floor off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
"As molten droplets from a fireball, they carry information about the elemental and isotopic composition of the first recognised interstellar meteor," Professor Loeb wrote in the blog.
"Aside from spherules, we recovered anomalous objects, such as a manganese-platinum wire, an iron peanut, an iron bean, as well as corroded iron shards... we will study these anomalous items in great detail," he further said.
As per Harvard website, Professor Loeb received a PhD in plasma physics at the age of 24from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1986. He joined Harvard University in 1993.
When 'Oumuamua' was first spotted, many researchers including Professor Loeb posited that the object was an alien spaceship. Others suggested that it was an asteroid or a comet.
'Oumuamua' is around 100 metres long while Borisov's length is between 0.4 to 1 kilometres. These objects are the earliest known interstellar objects.
