A Harvard physicist has revealed that up to 10 percent of the fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean contain ‘alien‘ elements not seen in our solar system.
Avi Loeb told DailyMail.com that he and his team completed their analysis of 850 spherules, finding a new class of differentiated elemental composition labeled BeLaU – and ‘not coal ash, as claimed by some people.’
The composition included Beryllium, lanthanum and uranium, which are found on Earth, but were arranged in patterns that do not match our planet’s alloys.
‘We studied more than a dozen BeLaU spherules and showed that they are distinctly different from coal fly ash based on the abundances of 55 elements from the periodic table,’ said Loeb.
‘Beyond any reasonable doubt, this rules out the coal ash interpretation that was suggested by four people.’
A Harvard physicist has revealed that up to 10 percent of the fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean contain ‘ alien ‘ elements not seen in our solar system
The teams findings have now claimed that the IM1 meteor detected shooting through the skies in 2014 was Earth’s first interstellar visitor.
The Harvard physicist’s latest paper, published in January, breaks down the classification of the spherules.
Loeb told DailyMail.com that the samples were studied by three laboratories: University of California, Berkley, Bruker Corporation and Harvard University.
The samples were subdivided into three compositional types: silicate-rich spherules or S-type, the Ferich (Fe) spherules or I-type and glassy spherules or G-type.
Around 78 percent fall along S, G and I-type spherules.
Another group was labeled ‘differentiated,’ which was found to have higher silicon (Si) and Magnesium (Mg), along with increased ratios of Aluminum (Ai) and Si.
‘These spherules are thus called differentiated, meaning they are likely derived from crustal rocks of a differentiated planet; we label them as D-type spherules, characterized by Mg/Si,’ reads the study.
Avi Loeb told DailyMail.com that he and his team completed their analysis of 850 spherules, finding a new class of differentiated elemental composition labeled BeLaU – and ‘not coal ash, as claimed by some people’
The samples were subdivided into three compositional types: silicate-rich spherules or S-type, the Ferich (Fe) spherules or I-type and glassy spherules or G-type. Another group was labeled ‘differentiated,’ which was found to have higher silicon (Si) and Magnesium (Mg), along with increased ratios of Aluminum (Ai) and Si
Another group was labeled ‘differentiated,’ which was found to have higher silicon (Si) and Magnesium (Mg), along with increased ratios of Aluminum (Ai) and Si.
And about 22 percent of the 850 spherules were labeled as differentiated.
The team used a different method to identify spherules with enrichments of Be, La and U.
This procedure identifies 10 of D-type spherules as BeLaU with low-Si spherules and two as BeLaU with high-Si spherules.
Loeb explained that it is clear the fragments form from a material that split from a rock-like object, but the chemical composition is unlike any known solar system material with a component of the lunar crust being closest.
The composition (pictured) included Beryllium, lanthanum and uranium, which are found on Earth, but were arranged in patterns that do not match our planet’s alloys
The remnants came from a meter-size object that crashed off the coast of Papua, New Guinea in 2014, which Professor Loeb claims was an alien craft
‘The elemental composition of the BeLaU spherules was never reported in the scientific literature and is different from familiar spherules from known solar system meteors,’ Loeb told DailyMail.com.
‘The abundance pattern does not resemble natural materials on the Earth, Moon, Mars or solar system asteroids and features enhanced abundances of some elements by up to a factor of a thousand relative to the initial composition of the solar system materials. We interpret it as being from outside the solar system.
‘It constitutes the first recognized interstellar meteor, IM1.’
Avi shared initial findings in October after analyzing just 57 fragments, stating the samples contained the new patterns of BeLaU, along with low content of elements with high affinity to iron, like Rhenium
However, the claim was met with criticism from other members of the scientific community, with one saying there was a lack of ‘conclusive evidence’.
Patricio A. Gallardo, a physicist at the University of Chicago, published a counter-study last November.
‘The meteoritic origin is disfavored,’ Gallardo shared in his paper published in Research Notes of the AAS.
‘Few comparisons to contaminants have been conducted to discard the null hypothesis of terrestrial contamination.’
Gallardo also claimed that there was a consistency between these three elements (as well as nickel) with the beryllium, lanthanum, uranium and nickel that arises in the ash from the burning of coal.
Steve Desch and Alan Jackson from Arizona State University also shared their criticism last year, stating: ‘Far from being exotic particles from an extrasolar planet, the spherules collected and analyzed by Loeb et al. appear to be just like those found around the world, with a Solar System origin and compositions modified by tens of thousands of years residence at the ocean bottom.’
A fourth person echoed Gallardo’s paper in claiming the spherules are ‘coal ash from human activity since the industrial revolution.’
The teams findings now suggest that the IM1 meteor detected shooting through the skies in 2014 was Earth’s first interstellar visitor
The discovery that these interstellar metal fragments were dredged from the Pacific with powerful magnets led to Loeb and his Galileo team’s 2023 mission
‘All four of these critics did not have access to the expedition materials and made loud statements to the science community, the public, and news media without substantive evidence,’ Loeb told DailyMail.com.
‘We now show that their ‘coal ash’ claim is invalid based on a detailed analysis of 55 elements from the periodic table. Their ‘coal ash’ claim was misinformation.’
For years, Loeb has argued that Earth may have been visited by such technology.
In 2017, an interstellar object named Oumuamua passed through the solar system, and while most scientists believe it was a natural phenomenon, Loeb famously argued it may have been of alien origin.
After the discovery of Oumuamua in 2017, Loeb theorized – despite much criticism – that more interstellar objects had likely whizzed past Earth.
He was vindicated in 2019 when a student discovered that a high-speed fireball in 2014, the IM1 meteor, also had interstellar origins and predated Oumuamua.
In 2017, an interstellar object named Oumuamua passed through the solar system, and while most scientists believe it was a natural phenomenon, Loeb famously argued it may have been of alien origin
The Harvard scientists spent years working closely with the US military to pinpoint the impact zone, combing through data to determine if and when the object fell from space.
And determined the object crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
Air friction burst IM1 into flames in mid-air as it careened towards Earth, leaving a trail of molten iron rain droplets in its wake on January 8, 2014.
The discovery that these interstellar metal fragments could be dredged from the Pacific with powerful magnets led to Loeb and his Galileo team’s 2023 mission.
Last June, Loeb and his team traveled to a site where the meteor IM1 was believed to have crashed nearly a decade ago.
Also known as CNEOS1 2014-01-08, the object had an estimated diameter of 1.5 feet, a mass of 1,014 pounds and a pre-impact velocity of 37.3 miles per second.
IM1 withstood four times the pressure that would typically destroy an ordinary iron-metal meteor — as it hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere at 100,215 miles per hour.
The researchers trawled the seafloor off the coast of New Guinea in June 2023, pulling hundreds of tiny metallic spherules during the expedition.
