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We Have Discovered Spherules from the Path of the First Interstellar Meteor, IM1
- TheBlight 3y agoIt sounds like they are fairly confident they've located traces of the meteor which could lead to discovery of a larger core fragment. Very exciting.
- jacknews 3y ago" If such an object is retrieved, its structure could inform us of its technological purpose and design." Or it will be a lump of metal/rock. I mean, maybe these spherules are from the interstellar meteor, or maybe not, but by this comment, I'm not sure I trust any of it - the team seem to just be looking for confirmation of their alien-tech intruder hypothesis.
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoThis is what motivates them, give them exposure and likely financing. It's good for moral, and for marketing. If they eventually draw extraordinary conclusions from this, there will be hundreds of scientists to double check it, just out of curiosity, precisely because they had this stance. All in all, it will be a win-win.
- ceejayoz 3y agoYup. Earlier this week it was an alien wire found on a magnet. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36372194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36372194
- gfodor 3y agoYes, one would assume if you charter a boat to the middle of the ocean hunting for alien debris, you are inclined to want to find some. Fortunately, as we know, it isn't the end of the world that humans have motivations to do scientific research, as long as their methods are sound and they publish their findings in the right way.
- Mizza 3y agoI think he _hopes_, but doesn't believe. The actual papers around this project don't mention aliens (but they're ever-so-slightly hinted at, if you read between the lines). They treat it like an interesting metallic meteorite. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2209.09905.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/2209.09905.pdf I think it's cool enough without needing to talk about ET technology, but it helps with the funding and exposure, so I don't really mind at as long as it remains fundamentally scientific.
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoYes, as long as the science is good, having fun in the process is not horrible.
- jacknews 3y agoI'm not sure it's ideal that the people collecting the data have such a definite view on what they expect it to indicate.
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoIt's not, but that's the dirty secret of researchers, the most passionate ones always have some conviction inside. They just don't voice it.
- nomel 3y agoThis data almost certainly wouldn't exist, without that view. In some cases, it's much harder to find something you're not looking for.
- TheBlight 3y agoThe data will be open. It doesn't matter what they think of the data.
- nocoiner 3y agoIt’s not horrible, but every time I see his name on a publication, I know what the primary subtext is going to be. It will definitely be worth it if he’s the first scientist to establish deeply convincing evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization, but for now he seems like he’s mostly hat and short on cattle.
- adrian_b 3y agoThe first thing that they must do is an accurate analysis of the isotopic ratios of all chemical elements present in the spherules. Only this can confirm that the objects are of extraterrestrial origin (if the isotopic ratios do not match the terrestrial ratios). If it is true that they are extraterrestrial, then they must have a complex chemical history. Such a chemical composition cannot form from condensation in cooling gases of average stellar system composition, like in most meteorites that have never been parts of a planet, but could have been formed only from some initially oxidized rock (which would have lacked the nickel, cobalt and germanium that are present in primordial metallic iron, but which could have included magnesium oxide and titanium-iron oxide) and which would have been reduced to metal at some time later, by a reducing agent like hydrogen. This could have easily happened naturally, but of course an artificial metallic object is made in the same way, by reducing metallic oxides.
- TheBlight 3y agoWhy do you have to trust any of it? The data will be made available to everyone. No trust required.
- AlbertCory 3y ago> As the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer noted: “All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; and third, it is accepted as self-evident.” Survivor Bias, anyone? Lots of hypotheses are ridiculed, turn out to really be ridiculous, and then are quietly forgotten.
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoYes, but the quote use the word "truth", not "hypotheses". The real kicker is that they are already assuming they are right, which is definitely over the top :) Well at least it keeps them motivated, and it keeps readers engaged.
- AlbertCory 3y ago> the quote use the word "truth", not "hypotheses" All truth starts as a hypothesis, but not all hypotheses turn into truth. They're using the quote to say, "Hey, maybe they're ridiculing us, but look at Einstein!"
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoThat's... what I'm saying?
- AlbertCory 3y agoIt was that "Yes, but" there /s
- elefanten 3y ago“Ryan Weed, Jeff Wynn, Charles Hoskinson, J.J. Siler and Amir Siraj are all engaged in this effort.” The founder of Cardano is on the team? Weird. I thought maybe just a coincidence of two people with the same name, but appears confirmed on his twitter. [0] [0] https://twitter.com/iohk_charles/status/1671496735267467264 https://twitter.com/iohk_charles/status/1671496735267467264
- TheBlight 3y agoIt's not all that weird, IMO. The Galileo Project is funded by private donors. It is a blue-sky project and so is Cardano (crypto more generally.) Mr. Hoskinson is paying the bills for this trip.
- Gravityloss 3y agoAt least they are collecting and analysing samples and not just writing or making videos.
- everyone 3y ago"The fundamental question is obvious: was this first recognized interstellar object from 2014 manufactured by a technological civilization?" wat?
- robertakarobin 3y agoPerhaps not so obvious.
- kvetching 3y agoYeah, may be confusing out of context. This is what he wants to do: "If IM1 were of technological origin, we can then study the technologies embedded in its relic."
- pimpampum 3y agoAvi Loeb is the new Bob Lazar.
- hersko 3y agoHe has a hypothesis that he is publicly testing. Not sure how they are the same.
- TechBro8615 3y agoBob Lazar lied about going to MIT, and Avi Loeb is the head of the astrophysics department at Harvard. I suspect there are more than a few differences between them.
- neerd 3y agoSo, they dragged a magnet across the bottom of the ocean and found signs of non-naturally occurring materials… why is the first reaction that it is anything other than more human waste?
- jebarker 3y ago"We found a composition of mostly iron with some magnesium and titanium but no nickel. This composition is anomalous compared to human-made alloys, known asteroids and familiar astrophysical sources." I took that to mean it wasn't likely to be human-made. Is that a misinterpretation?
- richardjam73 3y agoIf people drag stuff up in other locations and come up with the same stuff then it would be naturally occurring but we just haven't seen it before.
- hersko 3y ago[1] Surprisingly good Vice article on it. [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3wwam/scientists-are-hunting-for-alien-objects-in-the-ocean-and-theyve-just-found-something https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3wwam/scientists-are-huntin...
- nomel 3y agoThe majority of our advanced technology will not stick to a magnetic. Inconel won't. I understand the need, but wow it sure cuts out a significant class of materials/technology.
- mattlondon 3y agoThey are planning to sluice the material too so that they find non-magnetic items too. I think the magnet is the first pass? Perhaps to try and narrow down the search area. He seems like a bit of a nut, but it is quite refreshing to see some "real" science and analysis of materials etc and not just "oh hey we found these things SO IT MUST BE ALIENS!!!!"
- TechBro8615 3y agoIsn't the magnet mostly a necessity? How else would you dredge up somewhat interesting materials from the bottom of the ocean?
- nomel 3y agoWell, how would you dredge up interesting materials when the vast majority of our interesting materials aren't magnetic? I think it's more about ease, since dredging and sorting is technically possible, but much harder. In the ocean, most everything is calcium or sand, so maybe not impossible.
- _a_a_a_ 3y agoAvi Loeb was the author of any number of crappy articles in Scientific American. Once I saw his name I started to skip over them. After a while Scientific American stopped publishing them. The only thing you really need to know about this guy is he's a self promoter – it's not about {subject}, it's about him.
- damnesian 3y agoPresence of spherules just means it collided with something in space. Which, considering where meteors come from, would be practically impossible for the material that makes up IM1 to have not collided with something at some point.