Scientists say the seismic rumble from an 'alien technology' meteor was actually a passing truck

In January 2014, a meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere in the western Pacific Ocean, as evidenced by clear seismic signatures of the event at a seismic station in Papua New Guinea. Last year, scientists declared that debris recovered from the ocean floor was a rejection of this event (and some even speculated that it was a form of alien technology). But now, another team offers a different explanation: The vibrations were caused by a truck on a nearby road, which was traveling at the same time the meteorite fell through the atmosphere. Furthermore, the team concluded that the rock pieces found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean were not from this meteorite, which likely entered the ocean about 100 miles away from the original search area.

“The signal has changed directions over time, and it exactly matches the path that passes through the seismometer,” said Benjamin Fernando, a planetary seismologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the research. the Stady will be displayed Next week at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston.

“It's really difficult to pick up a signal and make sure it's not from something,” Fernando added. “But what we can do is show that there are a lot of signals like this, and show that they have all the properties we would expect from a truck and none of the properties we would expect from a meteorite.”

Meteorites are pieces of space debris that enter the Earth's atmosphere. They come in many shapes and sizes and can help scientists learn about the history and origins of the solar system The origin of water on Earth. It was the largest in this century Chelyabinsk meteorite that exploded over Russia In 2013, windows were shattered, car alarms went off, and about 1,600 people were injured. However, not all meteorites are completely alien; Last year, a group of researchers studied a meteorite that fell in the Sahara Desert in 2018 She concluded that it actually originated from Earth.

Preliminary analysis of the meteorite fall was performed using data from the nearby AU MANU seismometer on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. That analysis, published In September 2023, it was concluded that the meteorite was of interstellar origin and fell into the ocean just north of the island.

But in the new research, Fernando's team relied on data from sound stations in Australia and Palau, which were originally built to detect nuclear test tremors. That data indicated that the meteorite likely fell more than 100 miles from where the initial searches for the space rock were conducted.

“Scattered field localization relies on a single station and signal with no clear phases,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, we consider it to be highly exaggerated at best, and completely false at worst.”

Avi Loeb, A A distinguished researcher at Harvard University And supporter of the idea that Interstellar object 'Oumuamua. Maybe it was a space probe, forecast That recovered pieces of spherical rock could be an alien technology. But the substance has nothing to do with the 2014 Fireball, based on the team's recent numbers.

“Everything that was found at the bottom of the sea has absolutely nothing to do with this meteorite, regardless of whether it was a natural space rock or a piece of an alien spacecraft – although we strongly suspect that it was not aliens,” Fernando said.

The show will also be presented by a team led by Loeb Their findingswhich characterizes the composition and possible origin of the 850 pellets, will be presented at a conference next week.

Fernando's team concluded that the globules are actually meteorites, or a mixture of meteorite and terrestrial material, but have nothing to do with the 2014 meteorite fall.

The truth is out there, whether at the bottom of the sea or in the data collected during the meteorite fall. Even if the results aren't as out-of-this-world as alien technology, discussing all the possibilities and reviewing the data through the scientific process can tie a neat little bow to this meteorite saga.

more: On this day 10 years ago, the Chelyabinsk meteor exploded over Russia