Scientists Think Visitors From Another Star System May Have Infiltrated Our Galactic Neighborhood
To know what to expect, researchers used existing models to predict how many particles of different sizes may already exist in the Solar System and are possibly coming in from Alpha Centauri every year.
Studying the ejection and transfer of particles from Alpha Centauri could tell us more about how material is exchanged between star systems.
While interstellar objects ('Oumuamua, anyone?) have passed through our Solar System before, the origins of many of these objects remain unknown. Did they originate in a nearby star system? A distant one? A completely different galaxy?
Unfortunately, it's not currently possible to track 'Oumuamua down for further study. Its highly eccentric orbit will take it too far for any spacecraft to reach or any telescope to observe. But that doesn't mean we have no interstellar subjects available for study—in fact, it turns out we have plenty of particles from another star system already here.
The closest stellar system to us is the triple system Alpha Centauri. It's currently creeping closer to our Solar System at 79,000 km per hour (about 49,709 mph), and should be at its closest around 27,700 years from now. With that in mind, researchers Cole Gregg and Paul Wiegert from the University of Western Ontario decided to see how many Alpha Centauri objects might have made it to us already, and how many could eventually make it here in the future.
'A small number [less than 10 meteors] may currently be entering Earth's atmosphere every year,' Gregg and Wiegert said in a study soon to be published in the Planetary Science Journal, '[and] is expected to increase as Alpha Centauri approaches.'
Alpha Centauri is a mature star system, at 5 billion years old. This means that most of the material in this system's protoplanetary disk has likely already dissipated, so it is not expected to release much debris out into space (though there might be material from the system in our asteroid belt and our distant Oort cloud). That said, the gravitational forces of more stars and planets make it more likely for material to scatter, and there may be planets orbiting its three stars (though, none have yet been confirmed).
To find out if Alpha Centauri could be currently ejecting material, the researchers turned to existing models of how star systems usually eject debris. The models predicted that, despite the small number of objects from Alpha Centauri that are expected to make it all the way to Earth every year, there could be as many as a million over-one-hundred-meter-in-diameter-sized objects from the system already lurking in our Oort cloud (many smaller object and particles may also be among them).
The problem is that the Oort cloud is on the outer edge of the Solar System. This would make potential Alpha Centauri objects—if they really are somewhere in there—difficult to observe. Though, it wouldn't be impossible. NASA's New Horizons Mission has a dust detector actively picking up on particles in the Kuiper belt that might have been leftovers from the formation of our Solar System. The Oort cloud is even further out, but despite a dwindling fuel supply, New Horizons may be able to hold on long enough to get out there and scan for the presence of something from Alpha Centauri.
That said, the presence of these objects is not certain. There is also the issue of smaller particles from Alpha Centauri potentially not surviving the journey to the Solar System. They could be deflected by magnetic fields, slow down significantly due to drag in the interstellar medium, or end up decimated by extremely fast gas atoms or collisions with each other.
For any particles that do survive and manage to enter the inner Solar System, the Sun's gravity will increase their velocity significantly. Even more particles could come from hypothetical comets—at least, they could if Alpha Centauri ejects as many as our Solar System—but these are unlikely to be observed. Whether these potential particles are actually detectable remains to be seen.
'A thorough understanding of the mechanisms by which material could be transferred from Alpha Centauri to the Solar System not only deepens our knowledge of interstellar transport,' the researchers said in the same study, 'but also opens new pathways for exploring the interconnectedness of stellar systems and the potential for material exchange across the galaxy.'
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Is this comet alien tech? ASU Planetarium Director explains
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — On July 1, 2025, an interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS was discovered and on July 17 a paper was co-published by Abraham Loeb from the University of Harvard who theories that it could be alien technology. After a CVHP reporter discovered the paper co-published by Loeb, he reached out to ASU's Planetarium Director Kenneth Carrell for a better understanding of 3I/ATLAS and Loeb's theory. 'This object is quite interesting,' said Carrell. 'It's only the third object we've detected coming into our Solar System from somewhere outside of it, all of which have been discovered since 2017. These objects have likely been passing through our Solar System since it was formed, but we are only now getting to a point where we have telescopes and instruments powerful enough to discover them on a (semi-)regular basis.' What is 3I/ATLAS? 3I/ATLAS is a small comet-like object that was recently discovered reported Carrell. Observations of 3I/ATLAS indicate that its' path is not bound to an orbit around our Sun, and therefore not part of our Solar System and it's just passing through. 3I/ATLAS will come relatively close to Earth but not too close. its closest approach to us is about twice the distance between the Earth and Sun reported Carrell. 'It is a little misleading because all the objects are constantly moving, I believe the image shows the current positions,' said Carrell. All the planets orbit the Sun in a counterclockwise direction, by the time the comet gets close to the Sun, Earth will be on the other side of the Sun. 3I/ATLAS will come relatively close to three planets which are Jupiter, Mars and Venus reported Carrell. Background information on Loeb Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, which is attempting to detect evidence of technosignatures and UFOs. Loeb has a history of publishing papers or pushing the ideas of alien technology for a few years now. Carrell told the publication that the very first interstellar object to come into our Solar System was 'Oumuamua and Loeb suggested in blogs and published papers that the object was some kind of alien technology (the paper suggested it was a light sail). Loeb theorized this because there were some peculiarities with the path 'Oumuamua took, especially as it left the Solar System. The scientific consensus was that 'Oumuamua was an ordinary asteroid/comet-like object. In 2023, Loeb led an expedition to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to retrieve fragments of alien technology from a meteor impact that hit in 2014. On the expedition, he found small spheres of material that entirely consistent with normal meteorite fragments but claimed they could be alien technology said Carrell. Carrell shares his thoughts about 3I/ATLAS Carrel explained that there is always the possibility that objects such as 3I/ATLAS are actually some types of alien technology or transportation that either intentionally or unintentionally has made its way to our Solar System. 'However, the much more likely and scientifically sound possibility is that this is some small rocky object that formed around some other star, was flung out by the gravity of the star or one of its planets, and eventually passed through our neck of the woods,' said Carrell. He then said that even though this may not seem as exciting as alien technology, it is still very fascinating, and each of these objects we discover tell us more about our own Solar System, the Milky Way, and the Universe as a whole. 'It is also fascinating that science is often pushed forward by science-fiction,' said Carrell. 'I think the people who say these objects are alien technology may have been influenced by people like Arthur C. Clarke – it is very reminiscent of Rendezvous with Rama.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (Probably) Isn't an Alien Spacecraft, But Here Are All the Theories
The space rock 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object discovered by astronomers, following 'Oumuamua and the comet Borisov. While astronomers are still busily collecting data on the new discovery, they think it originated from the Milky Way's thick disk. If so, it may be as old as 7 billion years, a couple billion years older than our entire solar system. Its path through space will take it between the orbits of Earth and Mars before it heads back out toward interstellar space again. When it was discovered by NASA's ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) on July 1, 2025, it was traveling a blistering 137,000 miles per hour and getting faster. It will be moving faster than 150,000 miles per hour when it makes its closest approach with the Sun. The asteroid gets its name from a combination of its place in astronomical history (3I being short for third interstellar) and the ATLAS telescope which made the discovery. Astronomers know it's interstellar because its trajectory puts it on a hyperbolic orbit which will send it back into deep space after a close pass through the inner solar system later this year. The comet is traveling within 5 degrees of the ecliptic plane (the imaginary plane upon which the Earth and most of the rest of the solar system spin) and it will pass relatively close to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter during its visit. It's that same trajectory that astronomer Avi Loeb says may be evidence of alien technology. 3I/ATLAS, the Fermi Paradox, and the Dark Forest hypothesis Loeb suggests that 3I/ATLAS is on the sort of path an alien intelligence might chart if they wanted to learn more about us and our system. He also says that the probability of the trajectory so close to three planets has a combined probability of just 0.005% This isn't the first time Loeb has suggested alien origins for interstellar objects. He suggested that 'Oumuamua may have been an alien probe and he combed the ocean floor with a magnetic rake looking for debris from downed alien spacecraft. This time, at least, Loeb says his speculations about 3I/ATLAS are mostly a thought experiment. "As largely a pedagogical exercise, in this paper we present additional analysis into the astrodynamics of 3I/ATLAS, and hypothesize that this object could be technological, and possibly hostile as would be expected from the 'Dark Forest' resolution to the 'Fermi Paradox'," authors Avi Loeb, Adam Hibberd, and Adam Crowl wrote in a preprint paper posted to arXiv. The paper has not been peer reviewed. For More on Interstellar Objects: In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi went to lunch and posed one of the biggest unanswered questions in the history of astronomy: Where is everyone? If there are so many stars and so many worlds, with so many opportunities for life to arise, why are we seemingly alone in the cosmos? With 14 billion years of universal history, it feels like the skies should be filled with spacefarers, uncrewed probes, and radio signals. In spite of all this, there are no apparent signs of life out there. With a sample size of one (Earth), it's impossible to draw conclusions about how common life is in the universe or why we haven't found it yet. Dozens of solutions have been proposed for the Great Silence including that we really are alone, that we're early in the evolution of the universe and one of the first intelligent species to arise, and that technological civilizations tend to destroy themselves. And then there's the Dark Forest hypothesis. Taking its name from Liu Cixin's 2008 science fiction novel The Dark Forest, in which there are many civilizations in the universe, but they are hostile and quiet. It's similar to the Deadly Probes scenario, also known as the Berserker hypothesis, which suggests we haven't found alien life because it has all been destroyed by killer self-replicating spacecraft. The Dark Forest compares the universe to an environment filled with predators in which the best way to survive is to be silent. Similar themes were explored in the 1987 novel The Forge of God in which author Greg Bear likens humanity to a crying baby in a hostile forest. In these scenarios, when the intentions of an alien civilization can't be known it might be best to shoot first and ask questions later. And, if the prevailing attitude of the cosmos is antagonistic, then the only way to survive long-term is stealth. Many civilizations may choose not to explore or communicate, instead remaining quietly and safely on their home planets. If you're going to explore, you might want to do it covertly. Disguising your probes as interstellar space rocks might be one way to do that. Loeb, Hibberd, and Crowl make the case that if 3I/ATLAS were an alien spacecraft, its current trajectory would allow it to access Earth easily. When it's behind the Sun and blocked from our view, it could secretly thrust to slow down and fall into orbit around the Sun. If it wanted to, it could then chart a course for Earth, arriving as soon as November or December. Of course, even Loeb thinks that's unlikely. 'By far, the most likely outcome will be that 3I/ATLAS is a completely natural interstellar object, probably a comet, and we await the astronomical data to support this likely origin,' Loeb said. Prepare for contact with ETs by watching Resident Alien, ! Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Investigate Possible Alien Origins Of Mysterious Object Streaking Through Solar System
Is alien invasion armageddon coming for us in November? That's the speculation set off by a legitimate academic study recently published by a team of scientists. In early July, a previously unidentified object was spotted heading toward the Solar System. Now named "3I/ATLAS" by astronomers, the mysterious visitor follows the now-infamous Oumuamua, an object that appeared in 2017. A noted astrophysicist, Harvard's Avi Loeb, courted controversy by suggesting that Oumuamua might have been an alien probe. As a co-author of the study, he's now toying with the idea that 3I/ATLAS might also be alien technology. Naturally, the alleged threat was picked up by the New York Post and spread throughout conspiracy-minded social media over this past weekend. The lede, of course, got buried. In the actual paper, the authors called their effort a "largely a pedagogical exercise" and concluded, as have many other scientists, that "[b]y far the most likely outcome will be that 3I/ATLAS is a completely natural interstellar object, probably a comet." Post-Oumuamua, however, scientists seem to have decided that outlandish speculation and highfalutin fun-seeking is acceptable. It certainly means that their alien-tech thesis will garner loads of media attention. Read more: These Are The Car-Related Movie Mistakes That Really Bother You Serious Analysis With An Unserious Outcome If you read the paper, you'll see that it's crammed with authentic scientific inquiry, proceeding from the hypothesis that 3I/ATLAS is some kind of probe and that it's intentionally designed to conceal its nature due to the so-called "Dark Forest" theory of possible alien life. The idea is that an alien intelligence capable of interstellar travel would both want to remain hidden and seek to destroy any other possible life form before it could become a threat. You can also get up to speed on why Loeb, a respected astrophysicist, has become a controversial personality, especially since the Oumuamua event. The recent study offers a reasonable justification for conjecturing that 3I/ATLAS isn't just a very large comet: We do ourselves no service if we don't push some out-there hypotheses and then attempt to run real science on them. Unfortunately, the current media system does an excellent job of cherry-picking these efforts and mangling their authenticity. The Post's headline? "'Possibly hostile' alien threat detected in unknown interstellar object, a shocking new study claims." It's Exhausting To Do Your Own Research I saw the social media frenzy around the study and immediately thought: this must be something of a scientific thought experiment. A few minutes of digging led to the study itself, then to Loeb, and my connect-the-dots confirmation that the story was being sensationalized arrived. None of this should have been necessary. The headlines could have been something like "It's probably a comet, but..." Honestly, it's fun for real scientists to encounter phenomena such as this and try to figure out what's going on. Various telescopes are going to monitor 3I/ATLAS, which, at up to 15 miles in diameter, is rather large, as it passes through the Solar System. It's also fun for some slightly renegade researchers to publish a bit of a punk paper. The problem arises when we sacrifice science to scare people by encouraging them to scroll through flagrantly misleading Instagram posts. I doubt the paper's authors intended for that to happen, given the relatively obscure nature of its publication (it was what's known as a "preprint," research published before peer review). But here we are. It's "War of the Worlds" all over again. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
