Scientists have recently discovered a cigar-shaped asteroid named 'Oumuamua', possibly the first interstellar object seen in the solar system, and now, the mysteries surrounding the object are getting intensified. A group of astronomers speculates that this celestial object is basically an advanced alien spaceship that reached our solar system for unknown reasons.
The team of alien hunting researchers led by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner will scan the comet, aiming to detect radio signals from it before it sails beyond the reach of Earth's telescopes.
The researchers are quite confident that they may receive radio signals from the comet, and if it happens, it will surely emerge as a milestone achievement in the human's search for alien life.
Yuri Milner: The billionaire space buff
Yuri Milner, the business tycoon behind the 'Breakthrough Listen', a $100 million project designed to search for extra-terrestrial life initially received information about the object from one of his scientists, Avi Loeb a week ago. Loeb is the chairman of Harvard's astronomy department who also works as Milner's advisor in Breakthrough Listen.
"The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization," said Loeb in an email written to Milner, The Atlantic reports.
Loeb believes that the peculiar shape of the comet is quite odd for natural space rocks, but it is quite ideal for a spaceship flying between the interstellar space. After talks with Loeb, Milner concluded that this object is too intriguing to ignore, and as a result, he has now decided to take a closer look.
Even though the chances of detecting alien life is very meagre, Milner believes that we should check everything, and should never leave any stone unturned.
With the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, a team of 'Breakthrough Listen' will check for radio signals coming out from the cigar-shaped asteroid. According to experts, the asteroid is now about twice the distance between the Earth and the sun and is moving at a speed of more than 38 kilometers per second. Researchers at the 'Breakthrough Listen' believe that even the minute signals from the comet can be picked easily by the telescope.
