Aug 10, 2022 23:00:00

A plan is drawn up to collect the ``interstellar celestial body'' that flew from outside the solar system and sank into the sea with a magnet

A research team at Harvard University devised a recovery plan ' Galileo Project ' for the meteorite '

CNEOS 2014-01-08 ' that flew from outside the solar system in 2014. The Galileo project aims to recover CNEOS 2014-01-08 from the sea with a huge magnet and is estimated to cost $ 1.6 million (about 216 million yen).

[2208.00092] An Ocean Expedition by the Galileo Project to Retrieve Fragments of the First Large Interstellar Meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2208.00092

Astronomers plan to fish an interstellar meteorite out of the ocean using a massive magnet | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/interstellar-asteroid-fishing-expedition

CNEOS 2014-01-08 is a meteorite that fell on the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea on January 8, 2014. It fell from outside the solar system because it fell at a speed that would be impossible for an asteroid in the solar system. It is speculated to be an interstellar object .

In the Galileo project, a huge magnet is hung from a ship, and it sails for 10 days in the waters around Papua New Guinea where CNEOS 2014-01-08 fell, attracting a meteorite of about 0.1 mm to the magnet. According to Amir Siraj, a member of the research team, CNEOS 2014-01-08 is likely to have strong magnetism. For this reason, it is expected that fragments of CNEOS 2014-01-08 will be included in meteorites recovered by the Galileo program.

The implementation of the Galileo plan requires a cost of 1.6 million dollars, and has already secured 500,000 dollars (about 67 million yen). ``Another way to analyze interstellar objects is to start a space mission to access an interstellar object that passes near the Earth,'' Shiraji said. It will take, 'he said, appealing the high cost performance of the Galileo plan.

In addition, interstellar objects such as CNEOS 2014-01-08 are attracting attention as a key to unraveling the mysteries of the universe, and in 2017, the composition and orbit were analyzed from the observation results of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua' approaching the earth. it was done. More detailed analysis is expected when CNEOS 2014-01-08 is recovered by the Galileo project.

A small celestial body `` Aum Amua '' that flew from outside the solar system is cigar-shaped and rocky or metallic-GIGAZINE