Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

An interstellar object exploded over Earth in 2014, declassified government data reveal
Live Science ^ | Brandon Specktor

Posted on 04/11/2022 12:22:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin

A fireball that blazed through the skies over Papua New Guinea in 2014 was actually a fast-moving object from another star system, according to a recent memo(opens in new tab) released by the U.S. Space Command (USSC).

The object, a small meteorite measuring just 1.5 feet (0.45 meter) across, slammed into Earth's atmosphere on Jan. 8, 2014, after traveling through space at more than 130,000 mph (210,000 km/h) — a speed that far exceeds the average velocity of meteors that orbit within the solar system, according to a 2019 study of the object published in the preprint database arXiv.

2019 study argued that the wee meteor's speed, along with the trajectory of its orbit, proved with 99% certainty that the object had originated far beyond our solar system — possibly "from the deep interior of a planetary system or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy...

USSC scientists have officially confirmed the team's findings. In a memo dated March 1 and shared on Twitter on April 6, Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw, deputy commander of the USSC, wrote that the 2019 analysis of the fireball was "sufficiently accurate to confirm an interstellar trajectory."

This confirmation retroactively makes the 2014 meteor the first interstellar object ever detected in our solar system, the memo added. The object's detection predates the discovery of 'Oumuamua — a now-infamous, cigar-shaped object that is also moving far too fast to have originated in our solar system — by three years, according to the USSC memo. (Unlike the 2014 meteor, 'Oumuamua was detected far from Earth and is already speeding out of the solar system, according to NASA(opens in new tab).)

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 2014; asteroid; asteroids; astronomy; catastrophism; impact; interstellar; johneshaw; louisafrank; meteor; meteors; newguinea; oumuamua; papua; papuanewguinea; patrickhuyghe; science; spacecommand
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 04/11/2022 12:22:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Why does this information have to be classified in the first place? It was a friggin’ rock.


2 posted on 04/11/2022 12:24:39 PM PDT by packagingguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

3 posted on 04/11/2022 12:25:48 PM PDT by FrankRizzo890
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

This reminds me of a Star Trek episode where one humanoid culture would take out other planets by way of steering thousands of asteroids at them so they wouldn’t even know they were under attack. I can’t remember which series it was, maybe Voyager or Next Generation.


4 posted on 04/11/2022 12:25:57 PM PDT by Kevmo (Give back Ukes their Nukes https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4044080/posts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: packagingguy; BenLurkin

5 posted on 04/11/2022 12:28:59 PM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

So maybe they didn’t like Chuck Berry as much as we thought they would?


6 posted on 04/11/2022 12:32:51 PM PDT by Stosh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin; SunkenCiv

Did anybody see this rock, or take a picture of it, before it blew up? If not, how do we know it was only 1.5 feet across?


7 posted on 04/11/2022 12:37:48 PM PDT by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
The object's detection predates the discovery of 'Oumuamua

Three's the charm.

8 posted on 04/11/2022 12:42:58 PM PDT by fruser1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: packagingguy

“Why does this information have to be classified in the first place? It was a friggin’ rock.”

It gives them power.


9 posted on 04/11/2022 12:56:16 PM PDT by dljordan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Bugs ranging shots,


10 posted on 04/11/2022 12:57:29 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: packagingguy

It probably took some time to decide that it wasn’t a high-speed weather balloon.


11 posted on 04/11/2022 1:05:45 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: packagingguy

It wasn’t the rock that was classified, it was the methods of detection and confirmation.


12 posted on 04/11/2022 1:07:03 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Berosus
Probably not somebody, but something.

The late Louis Frank was hired by the DoD to study the data from a system of satellites that were intended to detect Soviet and Chinese ICBMs. He verified what the DoD suspected -- that the high-altitude flashes were the explosions of chunks of space debris, usually small comets.

The Big Splash: A Scientific Discovery That Revolutionizes the Way We View the Origin of Life, the Water We Drink, the Death of the Dinosaurs, the Creation of the Oceans, the Nature of the Cosmos, and the Very Future of the Earth Itself
The Big Splash:
A Scientific Discovery
That Revolutionizes the Way
We View the Origin of Life,
the Water We Drink,
the Death of the Dinosaurs,
the Creation of the Oceans,
the Nature of the Cosmos,
and the Very Future of the Earth Itself

by Louis A. Frank
and Patrick Huyghe


13 posted on 04/11/2022 1:17:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: steve86

What steve86 said.


14 posted on 04/11/2022 1:18:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: packagingguy

It wasn’t a rock, it was a Rock Lobster!


15 posted on 04/11/2022 1:19:34 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin; 75thOVI; Abathar; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AnalogReigns; AndrewC; ...
Thanks BenLurkin.



16 posted on 04/11/2022 1:19:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

It seeded micro bots that borrowed into the Earth and re now rapidly multiplying as the consume the Earth.


17 posted on 04/11/2022 1:20:28 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FrankRizzo890
Is it even possible? Yes, it is.
Giorgio A. Tsoukalos

18 posted on 04/11/2022 1:21:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Ow mau mau?

Is that racist?

5.56mm


19 posted on 04/11/2022 1:26:05 PM PDT by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


20 posted on 04/11/2022 1:31:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson