--- title: "Harvard Scientist Trawling Ocean Floor for Possible Alien Spacecraft" description: "Harvard's resident UFO hunter thinks he may have tiny found fragments of an interstellar meteor at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean." date: "2023-06-28" modified: "2023-06-28" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/avi-loeb-alien-meteor-fragments" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "avi loeb" - "interstellar objects" - "meteors" --- # Harvard Scientist Trawling Ocean Floor for Possible Alien Spacecraft ![Harvard's resident UFO hunter thinks he may have tiny found fragments of an interstellar meteor at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Harvard's resident UFO hunter thinks he and his team may have recovered tiny fragments of an interstellar visitor at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean — but there's still lots to be skeptical about. As the [*BBC* reports](), Harvard's firebrand astronomer Avi Loeb has found what he believes could be fragments of an alien meteor using his "interstellar hook," a tentacle-like contraption he invented that scrapes the ocean floor to rake up potential interstellar rock samples. Loeb has [made a name for himself]() in his years-long quest to discover artifacts that could belong to an extraterrestrial civilization. Though he's perhaps most famous for his theories surrounding the interstellar object ['Oumuamua]() that flew past Earth in October 2017, the latest anomaly in question dubbed IM1 fell into the Pacific Ocean back in 2014. Loeb strongly believes that it came from outside of our Solar System due to the incredible speed at which it crash-landed into our seas, the location of which the [Department of Defense]() later confirmed. And that's not all. Loeb [maintains that the meteor]() may represent technology from an alien civilization, an arguably far-fetched theory that's bound to raise eyebrows among his peers. But did he and his team really find evidence of the object's interstellar origins or were they simply sifting through otherwise unnoteworthy debris on the bottom of the ocean? Earlier this month, Loeb and his crew set sail aboard a ship fortuitously named the Silver Star to take their interstellar hook for a ride. And on June 21, they appeared to have hit pay dirt when they found tiny spherical fragments called "spherules" made up of a strange mix of iron, magnesium, and titanium. Spherules like the ones the Harvard alien hunter and his team found, the *BBC* notes, are often the hallmarks of meteorites or asteroids, which are created when they violently explode. While Loeb seems to be confident that the tiny fragments, just a third of a millimeter in size, are from IM1, other scientists are skeptical and noted that spherules can also be created by terrestrial processes, too. "Tiny metallic spherules are exceedingly common on Earth," Marc Fries, a cosmic dust curator at NASA, told the *BBC*. "They come from automobile exhaust, vehicle brakes, welding, volcanoes, and probably some more sources we haven't identified." And that's not to mention they could've been pieces of the hundreds of other meteorites that shower down on us every year. But that hasn't perturbed Loeb, who has since [insisted on his blog]() that the spherules' "anomalous" composition makes them a good candidate for having interstellar origins, though he notes that further research is necessary to figure out just what makes them so special. The team is now hoping to analyze the samples with a spectrometer at Harvard to identify any isotopes within. And who knows? There's still a minuscule chance they could've arrived here from an entirely different star system. **More on Loeb:** [*Harvard Prof Teams Up With Military Official to Study Possible Alien "Mothership"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()