For the first time, researchers confirmed that an interstellar object hit Earth on January 8, 2014, according to a United States Space Command document.
The object known as 'Oumuamua crashed down in Papua New Guinea, and was identified as an interstellar meteor in 2019 by Amir Siraj, who coauthored the study while a student at Harvard University.
The meteor was traveling at nearly 28 miles per second (45 kilometers per second) relative to Earth, and about 18.6 miles per second (30 kilometers per second) around the sun.
Although, Siraj said that it actually was going at a speed of about 37.3 miles per second (60 kilometers per second) relative to the sun. He was able to determine this after research showed that the meteor hit Earth from behind, or the opposite direction the planet moves.
"Its high ... speed implies a possible origin from the deep interior of a planetary system or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy," Siraj wrote in the paper.
His research also showed that the meteor's trajectory determined that it was in unbound orbit, in other words, it's path started from outside of the solar system.
"Presumably, it was produced by another star, got kicked out of that star's planetary system and just so happened to make its way to our solar system and collide with Earth," Siraj said, per CNN.
The U.S. Space Command tweeted the news about the interstellar object on April 6, saying:
"6/ 'I had the pleasure of signing a memo with @ussfspoc’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Mozer, to confirm that a previously-detected interstellar object was indeed an interstellar object, a confirmation that assisted the broader astronomical community.'"
"As you may be aware, Dr. Amir Siraj and Dr. Abraham Loeb of the Department of Astronomy of Harvard University authored a paper titled Discovery of a Meteor of Interstellar Origin. The paper identified a meteor detected on 2014-01-08 at 17:05:34 UTC. The paper reported the meteor as originating from an unbound hyperbolic orbit (defined as interstellar space hereafter) with 99.999% confidence. This event would predate the discovery of 'Oumuamua by about 3 years."
The letter went on to confirm the estimated speed of the meteor and confirmed its accuracy with NASA.
"Dr. Joel Mozer, the Chief Scientist of Space Operations Command, the United States Space Force service component of U.S. Space Command, reviewed analysis of additional data available to the Department of Defense related to this finding. Dr. Mozer confirmed that the velocity estimate reported to NASA is sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory," the letter said.
Siraj went on to tell CNN that seeing the letter and the confirmation of the meteor was a special moment. He added that his team is planning to resubmit their initial findings for publication in a scientific journal.
"I thought that we would never learn the true nature of this meteor, that it was just blocked somewhere in the government after our many tries, and so actually seeing that letter from the Department of Defense with my eyes was a really incredible moment," Siraj said.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram