ʻOumuamua

In January 2014, a meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere in the Western Pacific, as evidenced by apparent vibrational signatures of the event in a seismic station in Papua New Guinea. Last year, scientists declared rubble recovered from the ocean floor as the rejectamenta of that event (and some even speculated it was a form of alien technology). But now, another team offers a different interpretation: the vibrations were caused by a truck on a nearby road, driving by at the same time the meteor plummeted through the…

In October 2017, astronomers detected an interstellar object traveling through our solar system for the first time. Theories abounded as to the nature of the oblong object, named ‘Oumuamua, which accelerated as it made its transit. Now, a team of researchers suggests a straightforward explanation: The interstellar interloper was a comet that was releasing hydrogen gas, propelling it on its way through our solar system.‘Oumuamua—Hawai’ian for “a messenger from afar arriving first”—was theorized to be everything from an…