--- title: "Harvard Astronomer Defends Hypothesis That Object Is Alien Probe" description: "## Alien Probe" date: "2019-01-14" modified: "2019-01-14" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/alien-probe-harvard-astronomer-oumuamua" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Exobiology" - "Space" tags: - "`oumuamua" - "alien civilization" - "SETI" - "solar sail" --- # Harvard Astronomer Defends Hypothesis That Object Is Alien Probe ![The chair of Harvard University's Astronomy Department defended his controversial hypothesis that an interstellar object could be an alien probe.]() *\Image: ESO/Victor Tangermann\* ## Alien Probe In a [new interview]() with the Israeli newspaper *Haaretz*, the chair of Harvard University's Astronomy Department Avi Loeb defended his [controversial hypothesis]() that the interstellar object known as 'Oumuamua could be an alien probe — and speculated at length about the place of humanity in the cosmos. "As soon as we leave the solar system, I believe we will see a great deal of traffic out there," he told *Haaretz*. "Possibly we’ll get a message that says, 'Welcome to the interstellar club.' Or we’ll discover multiple dead civilizations — that is, we’ll find their remains." ## Quadrillion More After astronomers first spotted the object later dubbed 'Oumuamua — a Hawaiian word [that means]() "messenger sent from the distant past to reach out to us" — Loeb and a colleague [speculated that]() a hypothetical propulsion device called a solar sail could explain its odd trajectory. Another odd finding was that the object's brightness from reflected sunlight [changed by a factor]() of ten as it spun, implying that it could be a cigar- or pancake-shaped object tumbling through space — an extremely unusual geometry for naturally-occurring asteroids. An [attempt to listen for radio signals]() from the mysterious object came up dry, but Loeb told *Haaretz* that he stands by the possibility that the probe is of intelligent origin. "We have no way of knowing whether it’s active technology, or a spaceship that is no longer operative and is continuing to float in space," Loeb told *Haaretz*. "But if Oumuamua was created together with a whole population of similar objects that were launched randomly, the fact that we discovered it means that its creators launched a quadrillion probes like it to every star in the Milky Way." ## Not Speculation Loeb has embarked on a media blitz recently, giving a [separate interview]() last week in which he predicted the impact on humanity of [discovering an extraterrestrial civilization](). In the interview with *Haaretz*, he suggested that the universe could be littered with alien societies and that Earthling scientists should focus on finding evidence of them. "Our approach should be an archaeological one," he said. "In the same way we dig in the ground to find cultures that no longer exist, we must dig in space in order to discover civilizations that existed outside the planet Earth." "The search for extraterrestrial life is not speculation," he added. "It’s a lot less speculative than the assumption that there is dark matter — invisible matter that constitutes 85 percent of the material in the universe." **READ MORE:** [If True, This Could Be One of the Greatest Discoveries in Human History]() \[*Haaretz*\] ***More on alien life:** [Harvard Astronomer Predicts What First Alien Contact Will Be Like]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()