US Space Force confirms meteor that struck Earth in 2014 came from interstellar space

US Space Command (USSC) on Tuesday confirmed that meteor that struck Earth in 2014 was an interstellar object, meaning it came from a different star system. USSC, in a memo released earlier this month me revelation which has me 'Oumuamua' second interstellar object to visit our solar system in 2017. First discovered by two Harvard University researchers, newly validated meteor struck Earth on January 8, 2014, near Papua New Guinea's Manus island. 

Scientists confirm finding new deep space object

ory of object being an interstallar object was first proposed by Harvard scientists – Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb. meteor was also studied in 2019 and data has been submitted for publishing in  Astrophysical Journal Letters, however, it is yet to be peer-reviewed. As for its confirmation about being an interstellar object,  Dr. Joel Mozer, Chief Scientist of Space Operations Command reviewed analysis of ditional data about object.

According to USSC's memo, Dr. Mozer confirmed that  meteor's velocity estimate of object was sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory. Furr, organisation said that this confirmation has predated discovery of 'Oumuamua' which scientists thought to be first visitor from deep space. Interestingly, confirmation has also me 2014 meteor first interstellar entity to strike Earth in dition to being first outsider. Scientists also believe that meteor sprinkled its fragments into  South Pacific Ocean and are planning to search for debris. 

In an interview with Vice, Siraj said as per EarthSky, "I get a kick out of just thinking about fact that we have interstellar material that was delivered to Earth, and we know where it is. One thing that I’m going to be checking, and I’m alrey talking to people about, is wher it is possible to search ocean floor off coast of Papua New Guinea and see if we can get any fragments". It is worth noting that scientist duo from Harvard have also published research papers on Oumuamua along with comet Borisov, anor interstellar object spotted in 2019.

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