Harvard scientists are now saying that the mysterious cigar-shaped object known as Oumuamua could have been an alien probe sent intentionally to Earth’s vicinity.  They say the odd asteroid may actually have been sent by an “alien civilization.”

Oumuamua has been confusing scientists since it appeared in space. First sighted back in 2017, the odd object was thought to have been nothing more than an interstellar asteroid.  But since then, scientists have decided to take a closer look at the mysterious object to see if they could confirm whether or not it was sent by an intelligent civilization outside our own solar system.

Teams lead by renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, are attempting to discover whether or not Oumuamua is alien or natural. If a radio signal is detected later today, scientists will “proceed with caution.”

Professor Avi Loeb, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, said: “My recommendation, as in any dialogue, is that we first listen and do our best to understand what we are hearing. Once we figure this out, we can decide how to respond,” he said.  “Overall, I am an optimist. I believe that a very intelligent civilization will be peaceful, and we could save ourselves millions or billions of years by learning from it. But there is also the possibility that such a civilization will have hostile intentions and risk our existence, so we should deliberate carefully in any future contact with them.” –SHTFPlan

Scientists still say that the most likely explanation for Oumuamua is a skyscraper-sized asteroid from another part of the galaxy, but what if it’s actually “a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization?” That more complex explanation is now provided in a paper set to be published November 12 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. It was written by researchers from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

According to a report by CNET, the soon-to-be-published paper will attempt to explain the strange movement of Oumuamua and comes up with a number of possible scenarios. As per the paper, it shows “deviations from a Keplerian orbit at a high statistical significance.”  Which means that Oumuamua doesn’t move like a regular comet or asteroid.  The first explanation is solar radiation pressure. But that leads to an even more strange finding.

“If radiation pressure is the accelerating force,” states the paper, “then ‘Oumuamua represents a new class of thin interstellar material, either produced naturally, through a yet unknown process in the ISM or in proto-planetary disks, or of an artificial origin.” Artificial origin means that is was created by a species of intelligent design other than humans.

The paper goes on to explore the idea that Oumuamua could possibly be a broken off part of an alien probe. That it could be a “light sail, floating in interstellar space”, not unlike the type being built on Earth as part of the Starshot Initiative.

But here’s the best part: “Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization.” –CNET

Since Oumuamua is now long gone, it will be all but impossible to confirm any of the explanations provided.  But it sure looks as though scientists are toward the object being that of “artificial origin,” meaning it was somehow created by another species.