Researchers led by Johns Hopkins University have debunked claims that sound waves from a 2014 meteoroid fireball caused vibrations near Papua New Guinea, and revealed that trucks were actually the culprit. The discovery casts doubt on the supposed recovery of “alien material” from the ocean floor associated with meteorites, with further analysis suggesting that the material is either a normal meteorite or a terrestrial contaminant. It is shown.
A new study led by Johns Hopkins University shows that the sound waves thought to have come from a meteor fireball that struck north of Papua New Guinea in 2014 were almost certainly vibrations from a truck driving on a nearby road. became. The discovery raises suspicions that the material pulled from the ocean last year is foreign material originating from the meteorite, as has been widely reported.
“The signal changed direction over time and aligned exactly with the road passing by the seismometer,” said Benjamin Fernando, a planetary seismologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the study. “It’s very difficult to receive a signal and be sure it’s not from something. But if we can The idea is to show that there are many such signals and that they have all the characteristics you would expect from a track, but none of the characteristics you would expect from a meteor. ”
The research team presented their findings on March 12 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston.
Misunderstanding of meteor data
The event comes after a meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere over the western Pacific Ocean in January 2014. was linked Ground vibrations recorded at a seismic station on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. In 2023, material will be found on the ocean floor near where meteorite fragments are thought to have fallen. Identified as “extraterrestrial technology” (Alien) origin.
But Fernando said that assumption relied on misinterpreted data and that the meteorite actually entered the atmosphere elsewhere. Fernando’s team found no evidence of seismic waves from the meteorite.
Area near the Manus Island seismic station based on satellite imagery acquired on March 24, 2023. Credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa and Benjamin Fernando/Johns Hopkins University, image provided by CNES/Airbus via Google.
“In fact, the location of the fireball was very far from where marine expeditions went to recover meteorite fragments,” he said. “Not only were they using the wrong signal, they were looking in the wrong place.”
Fernando’s team used data from observatories in Australia and Palau designed to detect sound waves from nuclear tests to find more likely meteors more than 100 miles from the area they originally studied. Identified high places. They concluded that the material recovered from the ocean floor was particles produced from small ordinary meteorites, or other meteorites that hit the surface mixed with Earth’s pollution.
“What we find on the ocean floor, whether it’s a natural space rock or debris from an alien spacecraft, has nothing to do with this meteorite, even though we strongly doubt it was alien.” added Fernando.
