An interstellar meteor may have hit Earth, and the implications are fascinating

CNN — It could take humanity hundreds, if not thousands, of years to develop the capability to explore interstellar space. “Almost all of the objects that hit the Earth originate for the solar system,” explains Dr. Abraham Loeb, the chair of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, and the co-atuhor of the study. We can actually examine it, just as if we were walking on the beach and looking at the seashells that are swept ashore, we could learn something about the ocean.” Video Ad Feedback Found: Fossils created by asteroid that annihilated dinosaurs 01:02 - Source: CNN A time capsule Loeb and his co-author Amir Siraj studied the velocity of objects entering the Earth’s atmosphere, which can be used to predict whether the object was traveling in relation to our sun’s orbit. “To cross the galaxy it would take hundreds of millions of years.” A potential sign of life Of all of the possibilities wrapped up in this relatively small object, perhaps the most exciting is the idea that, theoretically, interstellar objects could carry life from other solar systems. And although the object detailed in this paper is the first recorded interstellar meteor to hit Earth, the study estimates such objects enter earth’s atmosphere every ten years or so, which means there could be a million different interstellar objects floating around our solar system, just waiting to be examined.