--- title: "Harvard Professor Defends Claim That Alien Spacecraft Cruised Through Solar System" description: "Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has long believed that 'Oumuamua, a mysterious object that visited our solar system, was an alien spacecraft." date: "2022-09-14" modified: "2022-09-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/harvard-professor-defends-claim-oumuamua" categories: - "Energy" - "Off-World" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" - "Solar Power" - "Space" tags: - "`oumuamua" - "avi loeb" - "interstellar object" --- # Harvard Professor Defends Claim That Alien Spacecraft Cruised Through Solar System ![Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has long believed that 'Oumuamua, a mysterious object that visited our solar system, was an alien spacecraft.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has long suggested that there's a chance 'Oumuamua, a mysterious object that visited our solar system back in 2017, [may have been an alien spacecraft]() that came by for a visit. In a [2021 paper](), Loeb argued that 'Oumuamua could have been a probe sent by an extraterrestrial civilization, an explanation that has proven [divisive among his peers](). Most recently, an international team of researchers attempted to dismantle a core aspect of Loeb's argument: that 'Oumuamua was a solar sail, an advanced form of propulsion that would allow a spacecraft to use the low pressure of solar radiation to move through space. According to their [study](), which has been accepted for publication in the journal *Astronomy and Astrophysics*, the team concluded that "'Oumuamua is unlikely to be a light sail. The dynamics of an intruding light sail, if it exists, has distinct observational signatures, which can be quantitatively identified and analyzed with our methods in future surveys." Loeb, however, isn't having it. He's sticking to his guns. "There are a few points that the authors have overlooked," he [told *The Daily Beast*]() this week. The international team, which was led by Shangfei Liu, an astronomer at Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, China, argued that if 'Oumuamua was a light sail, it would've featured a large, flat surface that would have reflected more light than what we saw emanating from the mysterious object in our limited observations. "If it was a light sail, the brightness variation should be much larger," Shangfei told *Beast*. Loeb, however, argues that the sail itself "need not be flat." According to his own research, it could've been a light sail of a different shape, reflecting light in unexpected ways. The astronomer went as far as to suggest to *Beast* that 'Oumuamua "may not be a sail at all, but just a surface layer torn apart from a bigger object" — in other words, a piece of alien spacecraft detritus that just happened to hurtle through our star system. Of course, extraordinary claims call for extraordinary measures. Maybe the object was nothing more than a comet [venting gas]() as it screamed through space. Unfortunately, it's exceedingly rare to encounter an interstellar object like 'Oumuamua. But given the opportunity, and "with help of a huge amount of highly accurate observation data in the future," as Shangfei and his colleagues argue in their paper, perhaps we could finally put the mystery to rest. **More on 'Oumuamua:** [*Avi Loeb and the Great Unknown*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()