Mystery debris pulled out of the Pacific Ocean appears to be “artificial in origin,” according to UFO-hunting academics.
Experts from Harvard University in the US have announced that the IM1wreck likely came from outside our solar system, with NASA nearly certain the debris came from outer space.
Metal fragments – some 50 iron spheres – from the unexplained 2014 event have been poured over ever since they were recovered last week by a pair of scientists from the prestigious university.
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Pulled up from the sea near Papa New Guinea in a $1.5million (£1.1million) search and recovery effort, the IM1 fragments have not been ruled out of being artificial in the first days of analysis.
With research ongoing in Berkley, California, the team already reckons the metal lumps are stronger than any other known meteor produced in nature and are now scratching their heads over how they could have survived the pressure of 200 megapascals.
These findings have led the metal balls to be labelled as “anomalous” by the leader of the research, Professor Avi Loeb.
The former chair of the institution’s astronomy department, he told The Daily Mail: “This composition is anomalous compared to human-made alloys, known asteroids and familiar astrophysical sources.”
He and Harvard researcher Amir Siraj have refused to rule out that the debris – which approached Earth at a little over 100,000mph – could be part of an “interstellar spacecraft”.
Speaking to the outlet, Mr Siraj – who first detected the debris – spoke about the mindset needed to pursue this remarkable investigation:
“It's really important to continue pushing the boundary in terms of destigmatizing the search for extraterrestrial life,” he said. “If you don't consider a possibility, you usually won't discover something new.”
The pair reckon that because the iron balls survived pressure some four times higher than what would normally be needed to destroy iron-cored meteors, there is something unusual about this find.
Dubbed the Alien Hunter of Harvard, Professor Loeb continued: “More than 95% of all meteorites contain iron-nickel metal.
“As a consequence, meteorites have concentrations of nickel that are much greater than that of nearly any terrestrial rock.”
These particular finds, however, have only tiny traces of nickel.
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