Bizarre! THIS asteroid struck Earth in 2014; Shocking secret now revealed | Tech News

Bizarre! THIS asteroid struck Earth in 2014; Shocking secret now revealed

After a strange asteroid crashed into Earth in 2014. Researchers made some shocking observations, but the US kept it a secret. Now, it is out.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Aug 22 2022, 11:22 IST
Asteroid
US Space Command declared the data about the asteroid as being top secret to keep everything hidden for years. But now it is finally out. Check the origin of the asteroid. (Reuters)

In 2014, a strange asteroid exploded above the skies of Papua New Guinea. The strangeness of the asteroid lay in the fact that it was moving at a mind-blowing speed of 210,000 km/h! This speed was so much that surpassed all the known asteroids in our solar system. Noticing the anomaly, two Harvard University researchers began studying the asteroid and published their findings in the preprint database called arXiv. The study argued that the asteroid's speed and trajectory confirms with 99% accuracy that it is an interstellar object that has originated in a far away star system. Despite their certainty, the paper was never peer-reviewed or published in a journal as some of the data required to do the calculations was classified by the United States Space Command (USSC). But now, the data has finally been declassified by officials. So, what was the reality behind the asteroid? Read on to find out.

Interstellar asteroid pays a visit to the Earth, USSC confirms

First reported by Vice, the USSC has finally confirmed the shocking fininds, that the asteroid was indeed interstellar and belonged to a world outside of our solar system. On April 7, the deputy commander of the USSC, Lt. Gen. John Shaw participated in a panel on planetary defense. His confirmation was later posted on the official Twitter handle of the USSC. The post said, “I had the pleasure of signing a memo with @ussfspoc's Chief Scientist, Dr. Mozer, to confirm that a previously-detected interstellar object was indeed an interstellar object, a confirmation that assisted the broader astronomical community”.

The confirmation is significant as this asteroid is the first interstellar object recorded to have crossed paths with the Earth. Earlier, Oumuamua was believed to be the first interstellar asteroid, which flew past Earth in 2017. However, with this asteroid, there are other reasons to be excited as well. Unlike Oumuamua, this asteroid turned into a fireball and exploded over the sky, dropping its debris in the remote South Pacific Ocean. It is now being considered whether the debris can be retrieved from the ocean floor to study the first confirmed material from outside of our solar system.

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First Published Date: 12 Apr, 11:50 IST
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