Declassified government data reveals an interstellar object that exploded over Earth
Back in 2014, a fireball exploded in the skies over Papua New Guinea. At the time, scientists believed that the object was a small meteorite measuring around 1.5 feet across. It slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere at more than 130,000 mph (roughly 210,000 km/h). Because the object’s speed exceeded the average velocity of meteors found within our solar system, a group of scientists conducted a study on the object in 2019. They found that it was most likely the first interstellar object we had identified.
However, the group never published their paper in a peer-reviewed journal. Instead, it has been available in the preprint database arXiv since its publishing. The reasoning behind this delay is because the data needed to verify the study’s position The team argued that the meteor’s speed, as well as the trajectory that it traveled, proved that it had originated somewhere beyond our solar system.
Unfortunately, the scientists never had the paper reviewed by peers. That's because the U.S. government considered the data needed to verify the claims classified. At least, until now.
The post Declassified government data reveals an interstellar object that exploded over Earth appeared first on BGR.
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Declassified government data reveals an interstellar object that exploded over Earth originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 13 Apr 2022 at 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.