State of the Planet

Was It an Alien Spacecraft—Or a Delivery Truck?

A Harvard astronomer says a meteor came from beyond our solar system. A new study questions whether his data includes a more obvious explanation.

While even the U.S. Space Command agreed the object was probably interstellar, many scientists doubted that Loeb had really found its remnants, much less that it was something made by aliens. Among them: a group of planetary scientists led by Benjamin Fernando of Johns Hopkins University. They decided to look into not the spherules themselves, but the earthquake record. For this, they recruited Göran Ekström, a seismologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory known for studying unusual seismic events.

The group reported their results at the March Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. And a ruckus ensued in the scientific community and in media.

In the seismic station’s records, Ekström found the purported meteor-inspired signal right where it was supposed to be. Then he looked further and found that the records contained hundreds of other tremors in the weeks before and after, and many of them looked similar to that of the meteor. They were not characteristic of the small earthquakes that commonly shake this region, located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates are constantly rubbing shoulders...

18 minutes ago, TheVat said:

State of the Planet

Was It an Alien Spacecraft—Or a Delivery Truck?

A Harvard astronomer says a meteor came from beyond our solar system. A new study questions whether his data includes a more obvious explanation.

While even the U.S. Space Command agreed the object was probably interstellar, many scientists doubted that Loeb had really found its remnants, much less that it was something made by aliens. Among them: a group of planetary scientists led by Benjamin Fernando of Johns Hopkins University. They decided to look into not the spherules themselves, but the earthquake record. For this, they recruited Göran Ekström, a seismologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory known for studying unusual seismic events.

The group reported their results at the March Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. And a ruckus ensued in the scientific community and in media.

In the seismic station’s records, Ekström found the purported meteor-inspired signal right where it was supposed to be. Then he looked further and found that the records contained hundreds of other tremors in the weeks before and after, and many of them looked similar to that of the meteor. They were not characteristic of the small earthquakes that commonly shake this region, located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates are constantly rubbing shoulders...

Yeah, Avi "Frontal" Loeb.😁

But this isn't news. We had a thread on it on another forum in March last year.

Edited August 13Aug 13 by exchemist

This came up in a thread on UAPs

https://scienceforums.net/topic/124844-aliens-from-space-split-from-time-to-talk-about-ufos-or-now-as-the-military-calls-them-uaps/page/7/#findComment-1265816

I didn't know if the truck thing had been mentioned. If it was, then this can be closed or merged or blended or whipped into a colloidal suspension - whatever mods think best. I almost posted it in Lounge, alongside other amusing bloopers. Actually this could be expanded into a science blooper thread, which could be fun.

4 minutes ago, TheVat said:

I didn't know if the truck thing had been mentioned. If it was, then this can be closed or merged or blended or whipped into a colloidal suspension - whatever mods think best. I almost posted it in Lounge, alongside other amusing bloopers. Actually this could be expanded into a science blooper thread, which could be fun.

It was just a mention because of an objection to UFOlogists being ridiculed, and Loeb kind of invites it with shoddy science like the truck thing.

Wasn't Avi Loeb also involved in an alien-intelligence explanation of sorts of asteroid Oumuamua?

38 minutes ago, joigus said:

Wasn't Avi Loeb also involved in an alien-intelligence explanation of sorts of asteroid Oumuamua?

Yep, he was. For Avi Loeb science works like this:

• If it could be aliens, it is

• Do not search for any evidence that speaks against aliens

• Publish it in such a way that newspapers will notice it

Hmm. Conspiracy theory: Loeb is payed by newspapers. 😉

Edited August 14Aug 14 by Eise

7 hours ago, TheVat said:

I didn't know if the truck thing had been mentioned. If it was, then this can be closed or merged or blended or whipped into a colloidal suspension - whatever mods think best. I almost posted it in Lounge, alongside other amusing bloopers. Actually this could be expanded into a science blooper thread, which could be fun.

It could. This story at least is a reminder that scientists far from immune from developing idées fixes or going a bit nuts, just like anyone else.

5 hours ago, joigus said:

Wasn't Avi Loeb also involved in an alien-intelligence explanation of sorts of asteroid Oumuamua?

Yes and he is now saying 31/ATLAS is aliens is too.

4 hours ago, Eise said:

Yep, he was. For Avi Loeb science works like this:

• If it could be aliens, it is

• Do not search for any evidence that speaks against aliens

• Publish it in such a way that newspapers will notice it

Hmm. Conspiracy theory: Loeb is payed by newspapers. 😉

Or he is writing a book/discussing a netflix series