--- title: "Scientists Say We’ll Soon Discover More Interstellar Visitors" description: "Researchers say new observational equipment could help spot hundreds more interstellar visitors, like 'Oumuamua, every year." date: "2019-09-27" modified: "2019-09-27" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-discover-interstellar-visitors" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "`oumuamua" - "Astronomy" - "interstellar objects" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Say We’ll Soon Discover More Interstellar Visitors ![Researchers say new observational equipment could help spot hundreds more interstellar visitors, like 'Oumuamua, every year.]() *\Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\* ## Brace Yourselves In 2017, [astronomers spotted]() the interstellar object they later dubbed 'Oumuamua. Last month, they [found another](). And in a provocative new paper, researchers predict that's just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, they say, new equipment could help spot hundreds more every year — revelatory observations that could teach us about the composition of other star systems. ## Interstellar Visitors The game changer, according to a pair of Yale University researchers who will soon publish their work in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters*, will be the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, an orbital observatory scheduled to go online in 2023. "There should be a lot of this material floating around," said Malena Rice, one of the researchers behind the study, in a [press release](). "So much more data will be coming out soon, thanks to new telescopes coming online. We won’t have to speculate." ## Fringe Theory Sure, interstellar objects might just be rocks and comets. But some have also suggested that they could be alien probes or derelict spacecraft, drifting through the galaxy. Influential Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, for instance, [raised eyebrows]() when he argued that 'Oumuamua — that's the interstellar object spotted back in 2017 — might be an alien spacecraft. “As soon as we leave the solar system, I believe we will see a great deal of traffic out there," he [told the Israeli newspaper *Haaretz* ]()earlier this year. "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.” **MORE:** [ Get ready for more interstellar objects, Yale astronomers say]() \[Yale\] **More on interstellar objects:** [Here's a Pic of That Mysterious Object From Beyond Solar System]() ## 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]()