Interstellar Objects (ISO) are back in the news, thanks to the arrival of 3I/ATLAS in our Solar System. But what do we actually know about this object?
Host | Matthew S Williams
On ITSPmagazine 👉 https://itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/matthew-s-williams
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Episode Notes
Interstellar Objects (ISO) are back in the news, thanks to the arrival of 3I/ATLAS in our Solar System. But what do we actually know about this object? All indications are that it is a comet that poses no threat to Earth. Like it's predecessors, including the mysterious 'Oumuamua, it represents the dawn of a new era in astronomy.
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Resources
NASA - View Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Through NASA’s Multiple Lenses: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/view-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas-through-nasas-multiple-lenses/
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For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast
What's the deal with 3I/ATLAS? | Stories From Space Podcast With Matthew S Williams
ISOs
[00:00:00] The authors acknowledged that this podcast was recorded on the
traditional unseated lands of the Lekwungen Peoples. Hello and welcome back
to Stories From Space. I'm your host, Matt Williams, and today I wanted to
address a subject that is very much on our radar right now and that is the subject
of 3I/ Atlas and in general, interstellar Objects.
And for those following the news, they'll be immediately familiar with what I'm
talking about. 3i Atlas is the latest interstellar object that we have managed to
detect in the past eight years. It began in 2017 with ' Oumuamua , which was
followed two years later by two I borisov. And 3 I/ Atlas now rounds it out as a
trilogy of objects that are passing through the [00:01:00] solar system and
they're representative of a much, much larger population of objects that do this
on a regular basis.
So in essence, this is not the third interstellar object to pass through our solar
system. It is merely the third one that we are aware of and its detection has
shown just how quickly our ability to detect track and study interstellar objects
has come. What's more, this object has once again led to some controversy
regarding certain anomalous or unexpected readings that have prompted some
individuals to speculate that, much like a ' Oumuamua, this could be a
interstellar spacecraft or a piece of debris that is essentially junk from a
extraterrestrial civilization that's passing through a solar [00:02:00] system and
proof that we are not alone in the universe. So in the course of this episode, I
hope to break down everything we know about Interstellar objects at this point.
Why there is speculation about ISOs being extraterrestrial spacecraft and how
these arguments are really very tainted by misinformation and a very
sensationalist click beatty mentality. However, the primary purpose here is not
to promote or completely debunk or take apart any speculation or theoretical
thought about whether or not ISOs could in fact be resolutions to the firming
paradox proof that we're not alone in the universe.
I would like to introduce the caveat that in fact, this will be strictly about what
is known scientifically. I fully intend to [00:03:00] explore the ambiguities or
the unexplained aspects of certain encounters that have led to these thought
experiments, which of course were proposed in the first place by Harvard
professor at e Loeb, who was a guest here on this very show, and how his own
writings about ' Oumuamua .And again, about 3 I/ Atlas. How they are related and how these thought
experiments are not claims to alien technology and alien spacecraft, but rather
just that thought experiments and how and where they are useful and where they
are not. So having cleared all the caveats and addendums, let's get into it.
What are ISOs, in the first place. Simply put, the name describes them aptly ,
they are objects that are [00:04:00] interstellar in nature, meaning that they are
asteroids, comets, or as recent studies have shown potentially rogue planets,
which are apparently very common in the Milky Way. In any case, the objects
themselves, these would've been kicked out of their solar system, their place of
origin due to gravitational perturbance, possibly due to a passing star system, or
a close fly by with a rogue planet as mentioned.
And from there they became unbound objects that traveled from star system to
star system. And in the case of comets and asteroids, some of them would have
been captured by our sun's gravity or Jupiter's gravity and stayed in the solar
system. And the subject of these objects has become something of a [00:05:00]
rather big deal in recent years because in 2017, the first ever Interstellar object
was detected, and that was the famous ' Oumuamua , which was detected on
October 19th, 2017 by the Pan-STARRS Telescope at the Haleakala
Observatory in Hawaii.
The name reflected that because, per tradition, objects will be named in honor
of the observatory that founded and given that the ha ka observatory is in
Hawaii ua, a indigenous Hawaiian name was selected, which roughly translates
to scout, which as it turned out, proved to be very, very significant for reasons I
will get into in a minute.
However, it's interesting to note that originally the name Rama was suggested,
which is the name [00:06:00] that comes from the novel Rendezvous with Rama
by Arthur C. Clarke. And for those unfamiliar this novel, it concerns the arrival
of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in the solar system in the not too distant future
and humanity's efforts to explore it.
And this novel is perhaps Arthur c Clarke's best known, most established work,
with the exception of 2001: Space Odyssey. And of course, all of this would
prove to be very, very significant as speculation as to what the object was really
began to take off and snowball in the months and years that followed.
And this was in part, based on the fact that the data scientists able to obtain on
was quite limited detection observatory. [00:07:00] That managed to catch a
glimpse of ' Oumuamua as it was already on its way outta the solar system.Nevertheless, what they saw was rather interesting, if not particularly telling
when it was initially detected.
Scientists believed that based on its brightness, that it was a comet. However,
closer examination showed that it had no coma, no halo of sublimated gas,
which is the norm for comets, and it had no tail. So basically there were no
volatiles that were outgassing and creating a cloud around it. So they changed
the designation to an interstellar asteroid, and this seemed to also be backed up
by spectra, which indicated some metallic properties, which one would expect
from an asteroid.
However, as the comet was making its way out of the solar system, scientists
noted that it was speeding up, and there didn't seem to be [00:08:00] any likely
explanation for why this was happening because the last observations we had of
this object, it didn't indicate that there was any outgassing. Again, what one
would expect from a comet to explain why it's speeding up, but this was comet
like behavior, so therefore the debate was now on.
What exactly was this object? Is it a comet? Is it an asteroid? Is it some kind of
entirely new object we'd never, ever seen before? And the only certainty there
was that third part there. Yes, absolutely. This is an object unlike anything
we've ever seen. Now in the first place, the mere fact that ' Oumuamua was
detected indicated that such objects are statistically significant, meaning that
many of them pass through the Solar System on a regular basis.
And this was something that was addressed in a paper that in included Marshall
Eubanks of the Institute for Interstellar Studies. And Professor Avi Loeb of
Harvard [00:09:00] University, who was also the founder of their Institute for
Theory and Computation. And together with researchers from a number of
institutes and universities, they ran numerical simulations to determine just how
common ISOs interstellar objects are and how often they pass through the solar
system.
And the results indicated that at least seven do with every passing year. So by
merely detecting this object, scientists now knew that they were likely to be
very common, and that there'd be opportunities to see more in the near future,
and that certainly proved to be the case. Much like gravitational waves, the
discovery of this object was revolutionary. It meant that astronomy had now
expanded to include objects that were previously theoretical, and now we had
proof that they in fact, existed and that solar systems exchange material
[00:10:00] through comets and asteroids on a regular basis, which had
significant implications for panspermia or the notion that, or the notion that thebuilding blocks of life are distributed throughout our galaxy via interstellar
objects.
But getting back to 'Oumuamua all that anomalous behavior, it immediately
began prompting some interesting and very speculative theories on what it. And
one of the first was a paper that suggested that it was a hydrogen iceberg. And
hydrogen in its frozen form. When it sublimates, it does not release a visible gas
the way that an ordinary comet, which is made up largely of water and other
volatile elements.
So that would explain why it didn't have a coma or a tail. And it would also
explain why it's sped up because solar radiation hitting its backside would mean
that it would sublimate more. We would not see [00:11:00] the gas, but it
certainly would be there and it would account for the acceleration. However,
this theory proved to be very untenable in one respect.
While it could explain the brightness and the lack of a halo and a tail, the
existence of hydrogen iceberg. Statistically speaking, such objects would be so
incredibly rare because neutral hydrogen exists everywhere in the universe and
it's in its gaseous form. For it to be frozen solid would require temperature
conditions that are incredibly rare.
And to put some numbers to that, basically the freezing point of hydrogen is
minus 259 degrees Celsius or roughly minus 434 and a half degrees Fahrenheit,
which is roughly 15 degrees warmer than absolute zero. [00:12:00] And like I
said, the temperature is rather rare in the universe. In addition, hydrogen's
boiling point.
Is just seven degrees more minus 253 approximately degrees Celsius, or minus
423 degrees Fahrenheit. So such an object if it could survive passing through
Interstellar space. Would likely have sublimated long before it reached its
closest pass to the sun and would've had to have been very massive in order for
any of it to survive.
So that theory was not on the table for very long. Another theory came forth that
said that it was a conglomeration. Objects, which likely included rocky material
with metals and icy material. And this came to be known as the cosmic dust
bunny theory. And so this aggregate material, the scientists argued it would
have passed around the sun and the mixed material [00:13:00] there would
explain why it was both bright but had.A like qualities are revealed in its spectra and why it sped up suddenly that there
was outgassing, but we just didn't see it. However, this theory too didn't stay on
the table very long because the idea of aggregate material coming together and
surviving its closest pass with the sun rather than breaking apart in all
directions, it really didn't seem likely.
There was yet another theory that said, well, it was a fragment of a larger object
that broke up after it passed around the sun, but again, similar problems. For
this fragment to be experiencing comet like behavior, it would've formed a tail.
We would've seen it outgassing as it was whooping by earth on its way to the
outer solar system.
So basically all of these theories, they could account for two aspects of the
unexplained behavior, but not all three. [00:14:00] Right. It has no tail, but it's
bright. It's metallic, but it's sped up. So that is when Professor Abraham Loeb
suggested something truly exotic and he said, what if, just as a FOD experiment,
'Oumuamua was an artificial object, either a spacecraft similar to what he and
other scientists were working on for Project Starshot.
Or a piece of debris because the scientific community was now kind of reaching
a sort of consensus, saying that it must have been radiation pressure that caused
the acceleration of the object and what kind of objects respond to radiation
pressure alone. And he used an example, there was a piece of debris from the
Apollo era that had been floating around the moon.
This object was noted for a sudden acceleration that it experienced when it
[00:15:00] came into contact with sunlight, and this particular object had been
observed experiencing a change in velocity, which coincided with it getting hit
by the sun. And so Loeb used this as an example to illustrate how. Debris from
other civilizations, how it could be a very common element in the universe and
much like naturally occurring interstellar objects, some would get booted from
its respective solar system and end up in other places.
And he explained all this in a paper with his then postdoc Schul Bali, and what
they asserted, it basically fit the facts. On the one hand, if it was a piece of metal
debris or a possible light sale that would explain its brightness. In addition, he
argued that the profile of a moa, which initially astronomers thought that it
looked cigar shaped, the elongated and narrow.[00:16:00]
But subsequent analysis indicated that it was more likely circular. And this too,
as Loeb argued, that shape fits the profile of a light sale. And Professor Lubin of
uc, San Diego, who was also a part of Project Starshot, he had been workingwith these concepts for years. How a light sale could be propelled by lasers in
order to achieve really high velocities, 20% the speed of light and reach nearby
stars in a human lifetime.
And that, of course, became the basis of Project Starshot. And he too, in his
designs, one of what she's working on for nasa, it featured a light sail that was
circular in shape, so as Loeb and Bali argued that would explain its brightness
and its profile, it would also explain why it didn't have a tail and why it
accelerated at the end.
And this was a very, very controversial theory [00:17:00] because of course
many people in the media ecosystem began using this idea and saying that, uh,
professors said it was aliens. And of course the UFO conspiracy theorists and so
forth, they began to argue much the same thing, that this was proof of alien's
existence and contact.
And of course, they were all misusing what Professor Loeb actually said, which
was, as a thought experiment, we should consider the possibility that maybe '
Oumuamua was an artificial object. And he too flat out said All that we know
for certain is that it's the type of object, the likes of which we've never seen.
And the scientific community, they hit back. They continue to argue a theory
that this was a type of comet whose tail coma and sublimated material we could
not see, which came to be known as dark comets. And another [00:18:00] paper
came out arguing instead of a hydrogen iceberg, that it was a nitrogen iceberg.
So the kind of material that one finds in the outer reaches of solar systems,
much like our own.
Beyond Neptune's orbit, what's known as the trans Neptune region. Conditions
are cold enough that nitrogen will freeze solid, and that is why bodies like Pluto
and Sharon are largely made up of nitrogen ice, and so are the many, many
objects that populate the KU belt and the work cloud, which is where our
comets in the solar system come from.
And so this theory also explained all those behaviors. But of course, Loeb, he
challenged that by saying that statistically speaking, such objects cannot be so
commonplace and argued that the spectrum behavior was not consistent with,
uh, nitrogen iceberg. And there was rather fierce debate on all these points
between himself [00:19:00] and his postdocs, and of course the, the scientific
team that proposed the nitrogen iceberg hypothesis.So at that point, it did seem like there was a sense in the scientific community
that it was in fact a dark comet. That Professor Loeb had jumped the gun by
suggesting that it could have been an extraterrestrial spacecraft or something
that was artificial in origin. And some of the pushback, rather interestingly,
came from the Seti community in particular, Jill Tarter, a leading Seti researcher
and theorist who was the subject of Carl Sagan's book Contact.
The main character in that, which is played by Jodi Foster, is based on the life
of Jill Tar. And she and other Seti researchers took Professor Loeb to account
saying You violated one of the cardinal rules of Seti. You don't say it's aliens
unless you [00:20:00] have the necessary evidence to back that up. To quote,
Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
And at the risk of editorializing though, those rules really were concerned with
Radio Seti in that the Seti community would not announce that they had made a
finding that could indicate the possibility of aliens when they were examining
radio transmissions, unless they were absolutely sure that messages that were
detected.
Could not be of natural origin. And these rules, these were written at a time
when Seti consisted of listening to radio waves from space. So they really hadn't
been updated for the study of interstellar objects yet. Nevertheless, they had a
point by saying it could be aliens. Loeb was stirring the. In any case, things
were much less controversial, much less stirred up when [00:21:00] the second
interstellar object was detected in 2019.
And the mere fact that another one was detected just two years after the first
that confirmed that these were statistically significant objects. The study that I
previously mentioned involving Eubanks and Loeb and other researchers, it was
conducted in 2021, and it used both detections as a basis for determining how
common they were.
And Boof really presented no mysteries. When it was initially spotted, scientists
noticed that it was outgassing, it had a visible halo and tail, and that its
composition was very similar to comets in our own solar system except for one
minor difference, which was that it had high levels of carbon monoxide.
And like a moua, they were able to determine that this was an interstellar object
based on its trajectory and its overall path through the solar system to on.
[00:22:00] And because of the lack of ambiguity, Borisov came to be
designated as the first interstellar comet. And unfortunately it would be anothersix years before we detected the third and latest interstellar object, which is 3I/
Atlas.
With Atlas, scientists had the benefit and the good fortune of seeing it as it was
making its way towards the sun. So it had not yet made its closest past and
wasn't on its way outta the solar system yet, which provided ample
opportunities for study and analysis. And there's still far more to come because
Atlas had made its closest past to the sun on October 30th and is currently
coming around and will appear on the other side as it makes its way outta the
solar system.
And during that time. On December 19th, on or about, NASA says it will
[00:23:00] pass by Earth. It'll make its closest pass to earth, and it will be at a
distance of 1.8 astronomical units, as it does so basically 1.8 times the distance
between the earth and sun, which is between the distance of Mars and the
asteroid belt from the sun.
So not exactly a close pass. Nevertheless, a pass that will allow scientists to
observe it some more, and it is expected that a lot more data will be available
because of course, after making its closest pass to the sun, it will be
sublimating, more gaseous material and will be able to learn more about its.
Composition, especially material that's beneath its outer icy shell, and that's
likely to reveal a lot about the system that it came from because as scientists
have known for a very long time, asteroids and comets are basically leftover
material from the formation of [00:24:00] the solar system. Their surfaces are
bombarded by cosmic rays, solar radiation, and are battered around by billions
of years of evolution and, uh, collisions.
So while the outer surface doesn't really tell you much about the early days of
the solar system in question, if you dig beneath that. You'll find perfectly
preserved material that acts as sort of a time capsule or a record of the ancient
history of that system. And so what that shows us will basically say, this is what
the solar system it came from looked like when it was coming together, from
which we can get a picture of what it's like today.
In any case, as Atlas was approaching the sun and when it made its closest fly
by to Mars in October, scientists were able to get a glimpse of what it's all
about, what material it's ejecting. [00:25:00] And there were some ambiguities
which led to, once again, a controversial theory by Professor Abraham Loeb as
to what three Atlas might be.And again, he emphasized that this was a thought experiment. However, this
time around his arguments, they could be more easily countered with data
pertaining to three AI Atlas, which indicated that no, it's most likely a comment.
Nevertheless, back in July, professor Loeb and other researchers from the
Initiative for Interstellar Studies, they published a paper with the speculation
that anomalous characteristics of three High Atlas could be explained in terms
of an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
And their arguments included the fact that 3I/ Atlas was rather large in size,
somewhat larger than what would be expected from a comet. As well as the
spectra, which was ambiguous and at the time was [00:26:00] revealing
identifiable chemicals. And of course there was the. Trajectory of the object
itself.
Basically 3I/ Atlas has been approaching the sun almost in line with the solar
ecliptic. And for those unfamiliar, the ecliptic refers to the solar equator
basically, and, and how the solar planets are very well aligned with that equator,
the orbit along this path. Three. I atlas the fact that it was flying pretty close to
that, that same line, that this was unusual and could indicate that this object had
a proposed flight path similar to what we do here on Earth.
With our missions that we send out, they typically fly along the sun's ecliptic,
however other scientists emphasize that. So far we've seen it outgassing and that
is very much consistent with a comet. [00:27:00] And subsequent observations,
which included those by the James Webb Space Telescope, they were able to
determine the composition of that outcasting, and it showed CO2 water and as
mentioned, high concentrations of carbon monoxide compared to objects in our
solar system.
And then the Swift Observatory. In August, they found evidence for water
vapor and there was some chemicals detected that were metallic in nature, and
that included nickel vapor, which was detected by the very large telescope in
August, as well as cyanide. And as any scientists would tell you, all of these
elements, this kind of composition, this is very typical of comments.
While its trajectory is a bit unusual, it is not entirely unexpected. So in essence,
the scientific community, they have been [00:28:00] critical of Loeb's
conjecture because of course they would say that the evidence he presented was
not extraordinary. But at the same time, Loeb insisted that the most likely
outcome will be that 3I/ Atlas is a completely natural interstellar object,
probably a comet, which he noted on his blog and also said that his hypothesis,it's a thought experiment and it's an interesting exercise in its own right, fun to
explore, irrespective of its likely validity.
So yes, again, he stirred the pot on this. And I'd be remiss if I didn't also add
that as someone who has spoken to Professor Loeb on many occasions in the
past and Adam Hibbard of the Institute for Interstellar Studies, who is co-author
on many of these 3I/ Atlas papers. These papers came out at a time when the
evidence was not yet coming in [00:29:00] in full force there, where we weren't
seeing all the, the outgassing and spectra and so forth.
And as he put it personally in a conversation with me. We were presenting a
testable hypothesis that could this be an extraterrestrial spacecraft? And it was
tested and the answer was null result. It is in fact a natural object. So yeah, once
again, one could make the case for this being misinterpreted that saying that
Professor Lo and his colleagues that they, they something irresponsibly.
Be necessarily fair and unfortunately, lobe stirring of the pot. It was received by
some and interpreted by some as a claim that there was in fact an alien
spacecraft on its way, and they ran with it speculating that Atlas will in fact,
break apart [00:30:00] when it's behind the sun and an alien spacecraft will be
revealed.
And they've also argued that there's some sort of coverup because scientific data
is being held back. And this is based on the fact that when Atlas made its closest
pass to Mars, it was observable by many missions that are currently stationed
there. And of course, the European Space Agency, they released the data that
they picked up from their Mars Express and Exo Mars Trace Gas Orbiter.
China released the data it obtained from its Ian when one orbiter. But what these
theorists don't understand is that NASA cannot release the data from its
missions because of course they're in the state of shutdown. And other missions
did already reveal in the summertime that 3I/ Atlas has the properties of a
comet.
So. Going on.[00:31:00]
And when it makes its pass around the sun, we will see it again and with the
increased outgassing that it will experience as a result of it making its closest
approach to the sun. We'll get a chance to see what's inside and what is inside
will be essentially material from the solar system where it from, and that's
gonna tell all manner.And this bubble is the beauty of interstellar objects because they're a leftover
material from their respective star systems. The study of them allows us to see
what else is out there, and it's the next best thing to actually traveling to these
solar systems, sending robotic probes out there. And as I said, the existence of
such objects.
It also has implications as far as the [00:32:00] whole Panspermia theory is
concerned, and it is my guess that these objects do in fact contain the basic
building blocks of life. We've seen that with near earth asteroids and comets
before we've seen. Organic molecules existing in all kinds of what we might
consider unlikely places, Nebula clouds, stellar nurseries, and in these stray
objects, which supports the notion that the ingredients for life are not only
distributed throughout respective solar systems by their commons and asteroids.
So it is absolutely by extension logical to think that the same process happens
on an interstellar basis, that life is spread from one system to the next by these
cosmic messengers. And the last thing I wanna point out, which I referenced
earlier, recent studies [00:33:00] and observations of the interstellar medium,
they've shown that rogue planets.
Which similarly, they're formed in the solar system, then kicked out due to
gravitational perturbance, and they spend their lives floating through the
interstellar medium and passing other star systems. And according to, again, a
statistical analysis, based on what we've seen, it's estimated that there are tens to
hundreds of billions of road planets in the galaxy.
That there's so plentiful in fact, that yes, if we travel through interstellar space,
we may in fact find these giant planets, gas giants, or smaller rocky bodies.
They too are flying around and. If in fact some of them are gas giants that have
moons similar to Jupiter and its Jovian moons, that those moons could in fact
[00:34:00] harbor life in their interiors because they've got warm water oceans
due to all the tidal flexing in their cores, similar to Europa and ganged and also
Titan and and Solat around Saturn.
If such moons exist around gas giants, if they're bound to the gas giants that are
kicked out of their solar systems, then yes, they would be floating through
interstellar space and could also be a means through which life is spread from
system to system. And last but not least. Recent studies has also shown
hypervelocity stars or just stars that are kicked out of their solar systems, either
due to gravitational interaction with black holes or binaries that spin up and
launch one of the, one of the pair out into space.And again, this is something that professor has dealt with extensively.
[00:35:00] Calculating the possible number of Hypervelocity stars and some
which get so fast, they're, they're powered up by such powerful gravitational
forces when they're ejected, that they become intergalactic. But there are many
that are within our galaxy right now, stars that are just moving about and
making passes to others and causing disruptions here and there.
But according to Loeb and a study he made roughly a decade ago, these stars
may in fact still have their planets. They would still be gravitationally bound to
the star. And so as it's flying out, its system of planets are flying with it. And if
any of those planets are habitable and support life. Once again, this would be a
way in which these celestial objects could transport life from one place to
another.
And as I said, some [00:36:00] are intergalactic, so it could in fact be that
panspermia, it not only applies to solar systems themselves or in galaxies, but
between galaxies. So yes, the implications for the study of interstellar objects.
They are very, very consequential. And of course, ever since ' Oumuamua flew
past Earth, scientists have been looking for ways in which we could create
spacecraft that could be in a parking orbit around Earth and ready to go, so that
when another interstellar object is detected, it can rendezvous with it and
studied up close.
And there have been proposals for how existing missions, like the Juno probe
could in fact rendezvous with it and have a closeup look. And the European
Space Agency right now is working on a mission called the Comet [00:37:00]
Interceptor. And the idea there is yes, again, have a spacecraft or robotic
spacecraft in parking orbit around Earth.
And when a comet is entering the inner solar system. This ship would
rendezvous with it, and it's nonspecific as to what kind of comet it would be
rendezvousing with. They could be long period comets coming from the work
cloud, or they could be interstellar comets. And so a mission of this kind, it
would be the next step in this revolution in astronomy, the study of objects,
because getting a closeup look.
Dare, we hope putting a mission that can land on an interstellar object the same
way we've done with near earth asteroids. Now a couple times, if we could land
on this interstellar object, we'd be able to dig deep, find samples from the
interior, [00:38:00] and this would be a sample return mission return, they're
sent back to earth for analysis.And so we wouldn't just be detecting chemicals that are being released from this
object when it's near to the sun. We would be able to look at intact samples of
ancient material and who knows what that could reveal. Point is it would be the
next best thing to going this objects home system and seeing what's there,
sampling materials.
The possibilities there are just really profound and exciting. And as for rope
plants and hypervelocity stars, that's a prospect. You know, the studying of
those particular objects or rendezvousing with any of them, that is something
very, very far off. But it has to be noted if these things are out there.
They're also interstellar objects, so what could we learn from [00:39:00] those
even more profound. Especially if it's a unbound star with its system of planets,
we would be going to another star system, but the beauty part is it's coming
closer to us, so it would be a much more local trip rather than a massive
interstellar undertaking.
And so this is the state of our current scientific understanding there. When it
comes to interstellar objects, it is also the state of the crazy speculation that
naturally emerges whenever scientific discoveries are made. And so it is
important to debunk any theories that yes, objects that are coming into our solar
system from somewhere else could be alien spacecraft.
It's like, yeah, that that is a possibility and it's an exciting one. And as Loeb
argued, and I mentioned space debris, the remains of a civilization or the just
the [00:40:00] remains of the spacecraft that they sent out. It is entirely likely
that we'll run into some of that someday. Just as the Voyager and Pioneer
Probes and New Horizons, all these missions that we've sent out, which have
left the solar system, they will turn up in somebody's backyard someday.
And given the age of our galaxy, given that humanity has only been around for
the last 200,000 years, give or take, and has only been exploring space for a few
decades, the likelihood that somebody else's trash or defunct missions, which
were set by civilization billions of years older than ours, that is a plausible
possibility.
Of course, as with everything else involving such grand speculation and
conjecture, no matter how likely we think it is, that kind of [00:41:00]
extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence, and we haven't found it at
all with the current census of interstellar objects, but we've only seen three, so.
And in the coming years, we are going to be detecting a lot more thanks to
observatories like the RA Observatory and for years now, ever since.You'll see this in virtually every scientific paper on the subject of and boff and
free high atlas. They mention the VOC room observatory because it is ideally
suited to search for these objects. Its primary mission is to chart all the objects
in our solar system from near earth objects to asteroids to KY belt objects.
The families of asteroids that follow planets around like Jupiter's, Trojan and
Greek [00:42:00] population. And of course, as noted before. Some of the
interstellar objects that have entered our solar system in the past, but wound up
staying because they got captured by Jupiter's Gravity or the Suns or some other
body and became bound objects.
Scientists are already working to identify which objects that we know of that are
out there, how many interstellar objects could actually.
And how we could identify interstellar objects that stayed through their
particular orbits that would suggest that they, in fact were captured and perhaps
even based on an unusual composition, because as I said, 3I/ Atlas did contain
more carbon monoxide than is typical for comets in our solar system.
So dedicated missions could be sent [00:43:00] out in the near future. That
could seek out identified interstellar objects and study them up close. So it kind
of goes without saying that the detection of AMU MOA back in 2017, it set off
a revolution in astronomy and in space exploration because now we have people
planning missions that could actually intercept and go and study these objects.
And the fact that we detected two subsequent objects in the eight years that
followed the first. That is indicating how our capabilities as a species when it
comes to studying objects within our solar system, that is an indication of how
far we've come in terms of our instruments, in terms of our observation
techniques.
And with the Verace Rubbin Now operational, which [00:44:00] released its
first light images back in June and other next generation telescopes coming
online, and of course with James Webb in the meantime, able to track and
observe objects that we detect. There's going to be a huge treasure trove of data,
and scientists are going to be making all kinds of very fascinating discoveries in
the coming years.
And we can expect with our improved instruments that we're also gonna be
detecting a lot more of these objects. So it may get to the point where any
interstellar object entering our solar system will be detected, and it's gonna
become something mundane because it's like seven times a year or more.We're hearing about another interstellar object and, oh look, it's an asteroid. Oh
look, it's a comet. And that, of course, is a very good problem to have. And who
knows? We may find some incredibly interesting [00:45:00] objects. We may
detect something that really, truly does fit all the parameters or ticks off all the
boxes that says, this is not a natural object.
It can't be explained in terms of natural phenomenon, high hopes and long odds,
but. All we need is one detection, one artificial object that we can study and we
will have answered. The most fundamental question we have is a humanity
alone in the universe. Are we the only civilization in the Milky Way, et cetera?
Myself and a lot of people, or counting on the answer being no hard, no many
times over, no. And concurrently with all these detections and the new
capabilities we have, professor Loeb himself and Harvard University, they
launched the Galileo project to observe interstellar objects as well as UAP
[00:46:00] with the express purpose of identifying techno signatures.
So looking for objects that are extraterrestrial in nature and potentially.
Something. So expect a at the same be.
And that my friends is Interstellar Objects and what the hype is about right now
in a nutshell. And of course, as I hope I've made clear the implications of these
objects and our ability to study them, they will be immensely profound. And
that's something I think we can all look forward to. And join me next time when
I will be discussing the issue of Pen spur Meia further.
And the possibilities that it holds and [00:47:00] how it could answer the
question. Another fundamental question we have, how did life begin in the
universe? How did it begin here on earth? Where else could it be? In addition,
be sure to tune into mostly true alien stories, a podcast that looks at stories of
alien abduction, potential coverups, government leaks, et cetera, and seeks to
separate the science from the.
Host, Neil and Andrew were enough to have me on recently where we discussed
3 I/ Atlas and an incident involving a reported abduction, the Copley Woods
incident. I will be sure to let listeners know when that episode premieres, but I
encourage people to check out mostly true Elian stories on YouTube as they
have many fascinating episodes and talk about a wide range of very, very
interesting case studies.
In [00:48:00] thank.