A team of Harvard University scientists is planning an expedition to Papua New Guinea to investigate the origin and make-up of a rare interstellar meteor, fragments of which are believed to have crashed into waters near Manus Island.
In 2014, US ballistic missile systems identified an object that had collided with Earth's atmosphere and it was added to a NASA "meteor catalogue" of 272 objects.
However — under closer examination by physicist Avi Loeb and his student Amir Suraj — it was discovered it was moving too fast for it to be bound to the sun.
Essentially, that means it went over the solar system's speed limit, which scientists say indicates it must have travelled from a far-flung region.
"It was moving faster than 95 per cent of all the stars in the vicinity of the sun," Professor Loeb said.
"We wrote a paper about it and the US government confirmed it, with 99.999 per cent confidence in our identification, and released data about the fireball that was created when the meteor exploded 10 kilometres above sea level."
Their studies also indicated the material the object was made up of was 10 times stronger than any other known space rock, which enabled it to travel well into Earth's atmosphere before combusting.
"There are two possibilities: one is that it originated from some unusual source, very different from the solar system, and it is natural in origin," he said
"Or, it is artificially made and it was produced by another civilisation out there and collided with Earth by chance."
What's being investigated?
Swinburne University's Sara Webb — an Australian astrophysicist who is not involved in the project — said the mysterious space rock prompted a range of questions and warranted further investigation.
"Was the solar system [it came from] like our own, or was it completely different? Did it have different elements? Did they have amino acids?" Dr Webb asked.
"If it is a piece of rock material that formed in a completely different region of space compared to our solar system, that can give us a lot of insight about what materials are common in other solar systems.
"In all likelihood, it's going to be pretty similar to things we find around here but possibly a little older and slightly different."
Searching for 'the head of a pin'
Professor Loeb's team has identified the search area for the expedition and, with the $1.5 million project covered by a curious benefactor, the trip will begin in May.
"It will take a couple of weeks and we hope to find some small fragments, the size of a millimetre or so — like the head of a pin — to figure out the composition," he said.
"All the findings will be shared with scientists worldwide and, of course, with anyone in Papua New Guinea who is interested in studying it."
He also promised the Museum of Modern Art in New York that, if they found something that was artificially made, the museum could display the fragments.
"Because it would represent modernity for us to find something that an advanced civilisation produced. They were probably more advanced than we are," he said.
Dr Webb said the discovery of the rare meteor was "like a scientific gold mine", but warned that reporting around "alien objects" could give rise to disinformation.
She said talk of "ancient relics" created by civilisations unknown to us could encourage conspiracy theories, when it could simply just "be a piece of rock".
"It's still incredibly interesting, because the fact it came from another solar system is quite rare and would make it the second interstellar meteorite that we've seen."
In 2019, Professor Loeb also suggested a cigar-shaped object which passed through the solar system in late 2017 and early 2018 could have been a probe dispatched from intelligent life in a distant galaxy.
However, many of his colleagues in the scientific community chellenged the claim.
A region where 'anything can happen'
Manus Islander and former politician Ron Knight said he remembered a media beat-up about the meteor in 2014, but interest in the object soon died off.
"Who knows? The proof's in the pudding and we have to see it. So, if they come and look for it, good on them. I'd like to look at it," he said.
"If you study the real history of Manus and Lou Island, they were digging an archaeological site and found bronze in an area where there was never meant to be bronze.
"Anything can happen."
In Manus, he said, "strange things" have happened.
"We have lights that happen at night and stories of a pterodactyl-like being that has light shooting out of its arse that chases people when they're fishing," he said.
It is a part of the world that is rich in cultural beliefs, he added.
"There's stories of things that can come out of the sea and beings that come down from the stars — the problem is, it is oral history, handed down and the old people are dying now so not a lot of people have those stories anymore."
