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The United State Space Force has declassified documents that claim an interstellar object exploded over the Earth in 2014. It is the first known object from another solar system to reach Earth.
The 1.5-foot meteor lit up the sky as it crashed into the ocean near Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, on January 8, 2014, at a speed of more than 130,000 miles per hour.
Scientists have long believed the object was not from our solar system. A preprint study from 2019 cited the fact that it was traveling at speeds well beyond that of objects within our solar system. Researchers also mapped out its trajectory and suggested there was a 99% certainty the meteor was an interstellar object. Unfortunately, they were not able to get their work peer-reviewed because the data they needed was classified by the U.S. government.
Scientists believe that some pieces of the meteor could have landed in the Pacific Ocean. While it may be nearly impossible to locate the tiny fragments, that isn't stopping them from trying.
"One thing that I'm going to be checking – and I'm already talking to people about – is whether it is possible to search the ocean floor off the coast of Papua New Guinea and see if we can get any fragments," Amir Siraj, one of the study authors, told Vice.
"The possibility of getting the first piece of interstellar material is exciting enough to check this very thoroughly and talk to all the world experts on ocean expeditions to recover meteorites."