Is it even possible? Yes, it is.
Posted on 04/21/2019 2:39:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Harvard astronomer Abraham "Avi" Loeb and undergraduate student Amir Siraj have drafted a new paper identifying the second cosmic object to visit the inner solar system from beyond (Oumuamua being the first). The paper has been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, but has yet to be peer reviewed. "The reported meteor entered the solar system with a speed of 60 km/s (134,216 mph) relative to the local standard of rest (obtained by averaging the motion of all stars in the vicinity of the Sun)," Loeb wrote in an email. "Such a high ejection speed can only be produced in the innermost cores of planetary systems -- interior to the orbit of the Earth around a star like the sun, but in the habitable zone of dwarf stars, hence allowing such objects to carry life from their parent planets." ...After traveling some unknown number of light-years at high speed, this interstellar interloper the size of a kitchen oven smacked into our atmosphere on Jan. 8, 2014... burning up just north of Manus Island, off the coast of Papua New Guinea... It was only when Siraj went back and analyzed three decades of meteor data that it stood out as one of the fastest moving objects that also didn't appear to be bound (that is to say, orbiting) any larger object in the solar system... If it passes muster it'll be the first documented case of an object from beyond the solar system colliding with our planet... Loeb says it could be possible to setup a system that alerts astronomers when an interstellar meteor is incoming so they can observe it as it burns up and analyze the gases it leaves behind to determine its chemical composition.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
I took them out because the paragraph breaks (I get fancy) kept bumping the word total over 300.
I thought he was from Kenya.
doesn’t look like a kitchen oven
Klendathu?
“Ranging rounds” — LOL. Next incoming in what? A billion years?
"...a hurtlin' piece of machinery..."
Advice to live by!
No, but his birthplace would be a great place for an impact.
Can we just call it Rama?
More like Bama, and not like the state.
...or the politician.
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