Microscopic metallic spheres recovered from the Pacific Ocean are likely the result of manmade industrial pollution — rather than pieces of an interstellar meteor — according to several new studies.
Microscopic metallic spheres recovered from the Pacific Ocean are likely the result of manmade industrial pollution — rather than pieces of an interstellar meteor — according to several new studies. Last summer, Harvard astrophysicist and extraterrestrial hunter Avi Loeb declared that several tiny, metallic balls dredged up from the bottom of the ocean were likely remnants from an interstellar meteorite, and could even contain signatures of alien technology .
Now, independent analysis suggests the spheres have a much less distant origin: They are more likely a by-product from burning coal on Earth. Loeb and his colleagues found the micrometer-sized spherules during an expedition off the coast of Papua New Guinea in search of fragments of a meteor that streaked through the atmosphere in 2014. Based on the meteor's recorded speed, Loeb and his team said that it was likely interstellar in origin — and that it must have left debris in its wake. The dredged-up spheres, they suggested, are that debris, as their composition is different to that of most meteorite
Microscopic Metallic Spheres Pacific Ocean Industrial Pollution Interstellar Meteor Avi Loeb Alien Technology Burning Coal Earth Papua New Guinea Meteorite Debris
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