# Interstellar meteor signal may have been a truck **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** science-math\ **Created:** [March 25, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340 "2024-03-25T15:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/1 "2024-03-25T15:10:25Z")
> In June 2023 Avi Loeb—a theoretical physicist at Harvard University—mounted a [$1.5-million expedition](https://avi-loeb.medium.com/the-im1-spherules-from-the-pacific-ocean-have-extrasolar-composition-f025cb03dec6) to find pieces of the meteor. Loeb has been the leading proponent of the notion that this meteor was indeed interstellar in origin—and has even speculated that it may be linked to putative [alien spacecraft](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/29/the-alien-hunter-has-harvard-avi-loeb-found-proof-of-extraterrestrial-life). His recovery expedition—which was part of [his UFO-studying Galileo Project](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/avi-loebs-galileo-project-will-search-for-evidence-of-alien-visitation/)—became a public sensation, further padding Loeb’s already long list of high-profile media spots, which included interviews on prime-time national television shows and with the easily enraptured podcast host Joe Rogan. > It’s actually just a truck driving by,” [Fernando] says. Using information from a separate network of infrasound sensors meant to look for clandestine atomic explosions as part of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Fernando and his team provide a different entry point for the meteor some 170 kilometers from where Loeb’s group searched. They also argue that the meteor mostly burned up in the atmosphere anyway, scattering few, if any, notable pieces onto the land or sea below. “You wouldn’t go looking for bits of a firework,” Fernando says. > **[‘Interstellar’ Meteor Signal May Have Been a Truck](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/)** > > New analyses cast doubt on claims that a meteor witnessed over the South Pacific in 2014 came from another star system and raise questions about a high-profile expedition to recover the fireball’s fragments from the seafloor Lorries of the Gods! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/2 "2024-03-25T15:23:00Z")
Here’s a good article not hidden behind a paywall. > **[Vibrations From "Interstellar Meteor" Actually From Local Truck; Or,...](https://defector.com/vibrations-from-interstellar-meteor-actually-from-local-truck-or-fact-checking-the-celebrity-scientist)** > > On Jan. 8, 2014, an extraordinarily bright meteor plummeted from space to Earth and crumbled into confetti over the ocean near Papua New Guinea. Sensors from the U.S. government that track bright meteors called fireballs dutifully recorded this... ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/3 "2024-03-25T15:34:43Z")
Damn Space Truckers! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/4 "2024-03-25T16:01:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Here’s a good article not hidden behind a paywall. Oh, sorry- thanks for posting that! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/5 "2024-03-25T17:02:32Z")
Avi Loeb was formerly one of the leading authorities on the search for technosignatures and was one of the authors of _[Life In The Cosmos: From Biosignatures to Technosignatures](https://www.amazon.com/Life-Cosmos-Technosignatures-Manasvi-Lingam/dp/0674987578/)_, which as the subtitle indicates is about the technical methods and measures for the search for signs of extraterrestrial life and civilizations. (I’m currently reading through it but between the 1000+ length and the density of it, which goes into speculative xenobiology and neuroscience, evolutionary theory (and alteratives), planetary science and habitability, interpretation artificial and ‘natural’ signals, and interstellar travel.) Unfortunately, Leob has gone completely off the rails in his obsession that technologically advanced aliens are already observing us and that ‘Omuramura is an technological extraterrestrial artifact even though the observed behavior can be explained by naturally occurring phenomena. He is straining so hard to find evidence of alien observation and at times actively attacking anyone who is critical of that interpretation that he is completely undermining his credibility as a scientist despite his excellent credentials and long list of valued contributions to the SETI field. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interstellar-meteor-signal-may-have-been-a-truck/999340/6 "2024-03-25T18:21:08Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Damn Space Truckers! Can’t blame 'em. They’ve rocked the Milky Way so far.