Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

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Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth
ExtraterrestrialFirstIntelligentBeyondEarth-BookCover.jpg
First edition cover (Hardcover)
Author Avi Loeb
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Hardcover)
Publication date
26 January 2021
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages240
ISBN 978-0358278146

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth (also known as Extraterrestrial) [1] [2] is a popular science book written by American theoretical physicist and Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, [3] [4] [5] published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on 26 January 2021. [6] [7]

Contents

Contents

The book describes the 2017 detection of ʻOumuamua, the first known interstellar object to pass through the Solar System. [8] [9] Loeb, an astronomer at Harvard University, speculates that the object might be an extraterrestrial artifact, [10] a suggestion considered unlikely by the scientific community collectively. [11] [12] [13] [14] Earlier, Loeb claimed to have demonstrated that the interstellar object was not an asteroid, was moving too fast in a very unusual orbit and left no gas trail or debris in its path to be a comet. [15] [16] Loeb believes, due to the observed acceleration of the object near the Sun, that ʻOumuamua may be a thin disk that acts as a solar sail. [2] Further, Loeb and colleagues demonstrated that the object is unlikely to be frozen hydrogen, as proposed by other researchers. [17] [ better source needed ] [18]

Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker magazine summarized the reasoning used by Avi Loeb about ʻOumuamua as follows:

The only way to make sense of ʻOumuamua’s strange acceleration, without resorting to some sort of undetectable outgassing, is to assume that the object was propelled by solar radiation—essentially, photons bouncing off its surface. And the only way the object could be propelled by solar radiation is if it were extremely thin—no thicker than a millimetre—with a very low density and a comparatively large surface area. Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do. ... Loeb writes, "ʻOumuamua must have been designed, built, and launched by an extraterrestrial intelligence."

—  The New Yorker [19]

Besides ʻOumuamua, another interstellar object, the comet 2I/Borisov, has been detected passing through the Solar System. In comparison, 2I/Borisov has been found to be natural, whereas ʻOumuamua has not been so determined. [2] The possibility that ʻOumuamua may be alien technology has not been ruled out, although such an explanation is considered unlikely by most scientists. [8] Nonetheless, according to Loeb, "We should be open-minded and search for evidence rather than assume that everything we see in the sky must be rocks." [20] [21]

Reviews

Alan Lightman writes the book is "provocative and thrilling," and commends Loeb for suggesting that readers "think big and to expect the unexpected." [1] Jeff Foust, editor and publisher of The Space Review , comments that Loeb "fails to close the case that the object must be artificial ... Just because something can’t be immediately explained by natural phenomena doesn't mean it’s not natural." Further, "Perhaps ʻOumuamua will turn out to be the first of many in a new class of interstellar objects with an unusual, but natural, origin. Or, maybe, it will be like the “Wow!” signal, which was never seen again and its source never identified; mysterious, but not necessarily alien". [22] Dennis Overbye, science writer for The New York Times , notes that the book is, "part graceful memoir and part plea for keeping an open mind about the possibilities of what is out there in the universe — in particular, life. Otherwise, he says, we might miss something amazing, like the church officials in the 17th century who refused to look through Galileo’s telescope." [23] Reviewing for The New Yorker , Elizabeth Kolbert writes, "It seems a good deal more likely that [the book] will be ranked with von Däniken's work than with Galileo's," but concedes "it's thrilling to imagine the possibilities." [19]

On August 24, 2023, The New York Times published an article about Loeb and his related search for signs of extraterrestrial life and his related publications. [24]

A followup book, entitled Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars , was published on August 29, 2023. [24] [25]

Related Research Articles

Extraterrestrial life, or alien life, is life which does not originate from Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to intelligent beings, possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be far more advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about the existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fermi paradox</span> Discrepancy between lack of evidence of advanced alien life and apparently high likelihood it exists

The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence. As a 2015 article put it, "If life is so easy, someone from somewhere must have come calling by now."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panspermia</span> Hypothesis on the interstellar spreading of primordial life

Panspermia is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms, known as directed panspermia. The theory argues that life did not originate on Earth, but instead evolved somewhere else and seeded life as we know it.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other planets.

Extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. No such life has ever been verifiably observed to exist. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged when the Copernican Revolution demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were, conversely, other worlds. The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of science fiction and popular culture.

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence</span> Branch of SETI

The communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI) is a branch of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) that focuses on composing and deciphering interstellar messages that theoretically could be understood by another technological civilization. The best-known CETI experiment of its kind was the 1974 Arecibo message composed by Frank Drake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Loeb</span> Israeli-American theoretical physicist

Abraham "Avi" Loeb is an Israeli-American theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, where since 2007 he has been Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Center for Astrophysics. He chaired the Department of Astronomy from 2011 to 2020, and founded the Black Hole Initiative in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstellar object</span> Astronomical object not gravitationally bound to a star

An interstellar object is an astronomical object in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star, such as certain asteroids and comets. In the latter case, the object may be called an interstellar interloper.

The cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact is the corpus of changes to terrestrial science, technology, religion, politics, and ecosystems resulting from contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. This concept is closely related to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), which attempts to locate intelligent life as opposed to analyzing the implications of contact with that life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technosignature</span> Property that provides scientific evidence for the presence of technology

Technosignature or technomarker is any measurable property or effect that provides scientific evidence of past or present technology. Technosignatures are analogous to biosignatures, which signal the presence of life, whether intelligent or not. Some authors prefer to exclude radio transmissions from the definition, but such restrictive usage is not widespread. Jill Tarter has proposed that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) be renamed "the search for technosignatures". Various types of technosignatures, such as radiation leakage from megascale astroengineering installations such as Dyson spheres, the light from an extraterrestrial ecumenopolis, or Shkadov thrusters with the power to alter the orbits of stars around the Galactic Center, may be detectable with hypertelescopes. Some examples of technosignatures are described in Paul Davies's 2010 book The Eerie Silence, although the terms "technosignature" and "technomarker" do not appear in the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakthrough Listen</span> Initiative to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life

Breakthrough Listen is a project to search for intelligent extraterrestrial communications in the Universe. With $100 million in funding and thousands of hours of dedicated telescope time on state-of-the-art facilities, it is the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date. The project began in January 2016, and is expected to continue for 10 years. It is a component of Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Initiatives program. The science program for Breakthrough Listen is based at Berkeley SETI Research Center, located in the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ʻOumuamua</span> Interstellar object passed near Earth in 2017

ʻOumuamua is the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, approximately 40 days after it passed its closest point to the Sun on 9 September. When it was first observed, it was about 33 million km from Earth and already heading away from the Sun.

CNEOS 2014-01-08, also known as Interstellar meteor 1 (IM1), was a 0.45 m (1.5 ft) meteor that impacted Earth on 8 January 2014 near the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea. It was claimed to be an interstellar object in a 2019 preprint by astronomers Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb, and this was published in 2022. This was confirmed by the U.S. Space Command in 2022 based on the object's velocity relative to the Sun. Other astronomers doubt this, and still other experts found Earth-related explanations for the purported meteorite impact instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of extraterrestrial life</span> Overview of and topical guide to extraterrestrial life

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to extraterrestrial life:

The Berserker hypothesis, also known as the deadly probes scenario, is the idea that humans have not yet detected intelligent alien life in the universe because it has been systematically destroyed by a series of lethal Von Neumann probes. The hypothesis is named after the Berserker series of novels (1963–2005) written by Fred Saberhagen.

The Hart–Tipler conjecture is the idea that an absence of detectable Von Neumann probes is contrapositive evidence that no intelligent life exists outside of the Solar System. This idea was first proposed in opposition to the Drake equation in a 1975 paper by Michael H. Hart titled "Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth". Assuming that the probes traveled at 1/10 the speed of light and that no time was lost in building new ships upon arriving at the destination, Hart surmised that a wave of Von Neumann probes could cross the galaxy in approximately 650,000 years, a comparatively minimal span of time relative to the estimated age of the universe at 13.7 billion years. Hart’s argument was extended by cosmologist Frank Tipler in his 1981 paper entitled "Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist".

The firstborn hypothesis is a proposed solution to the Fermi paradox which states that no extraterrestrial intelligent life has been discovered because humanity is the first form of intelligent life in the universe.

The Galileo Project is an international scientific research project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of anomalous Unidentified Flying Objects/Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UFOs/UAP).

<i>Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars</i> 2023 popular science book by Avi Loeb

Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars is a popular science book written by American theoretical physicist and Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb that was published by Mariner Books on 29 August 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 Andersen, Travis; Arnett, Dugan (4 January 2021). "In new book, Harvard astronomer pushes theory about object that passed through solar system; alien world may have sent it". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Whitwam, Ryan (5 January 2021). "Harvard Astronomer Still Believes Interstellar Object Was Alien Technology". Extreme Tech . Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Schulze-Makuch, Dirk (5 January 2021). "The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth? - Examining this and other intriguing questions at the start of 2021". Air & Space/Smithsonian . Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Staff (8 January 2021). "Object that whizzed by Earth probably came from alien world, Harvard professor asserts". CBS News . Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  5. ↑ Lincoln, Don (4 February 2021). "Why astronomers are interested in this mysterious signal". CNN News . Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Staff (2020). "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt . Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  7. ↑ Staff. "Second Annual Yip Lecture: Extraterrestrial Life by Avi Loeb - Spring 2021". Harvard University . Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  8. 1 2 Letzer, Ran (19 August 2020). "Interstellar visitor ʻOumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints - Aliens? Or a chunk of solid hydrogen? Which idea makes less sense?". Live Science . Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Manjoo, Farhad (11 February 2021). "Aliens Must Be Out There - Why aren't we looking for them?". The New York Times . Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Loeb, Avi (22 June 2021). "A Possible Link between ʻOumuamua and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - If some UAP turn out to be extraterrestrial technology, they could be dropping sensors for a subsequent craft to tune into. What if ʻOumuamua is such a craft?". Scientific American . Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  11. ↑ Shalvey, Kevin (3 January 2021). "A Harvard professor has claimed in his new book that alien debris passed near Earth in 2017. It has attracted both skepticism and intrigue". Business Insider . Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  12. ↑ Staff (26 October 2020). "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  13. ↑ The ʻOumuamua ISSI Team (1 July 2019). "The natural history of ʻOumuamua" (PDF). Nature Astronomy . 3 (7): 594–602. arXiv: 1907.01910 . Bibcode:2019NatAs...3..594O. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0816-x. S2CID   195791768.
  14. ↑ Starr, Michelle (1 July 2019). "Astronomers Have Analysed Claims ʻOumuamua's an Alien Ship, And It's Not Looking Good". Science Alert.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  15. ↑ Loeb, Abraham (20 November 2018). "6 Strange Facts about the Interstellar Visitor ʻOumuamua". Scientific American . Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  16. ↑ Chotiner, Isaac (16 January 2019). "Have Aliens Found Us? A Harvard Astronomer on the Mysterious Interstellar Object ʻOumuamua". The New Yorker . Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  17. ↑ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (17 August 2020). "Scientists determine ʻOumuamua isn't made from molecular hydrogen ice after all". Phys.org . Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  18. ↑ Hoang, Thiem; Loeb, Abraham (17 August 2020). "Destruction of Molecular Hydrogen Ice and Implications for 1I/2017 U1 (ʻOumuamua)". The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 899 (2): L23. arXiv: 2006.08088 . Bibcode:2020ApJ...899L..23H. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abab0c .
  19. 1 2 Kolbert, Elizabeth (18 January 2021). "Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens?". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  20. ↑ Karlis, Nicole (15 January 2021). "Why physicist Avi Loeb thinks there's a "serious possibility" that ʻOumuamua was an alien spacecraft - It's a "serious possibility that we should contemplate," Loeb says in his new book on the bizarre space object". Salon . Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  21. ↑ Loeb, Avi (11 September 2021). "Looking for Interstellar Monuments - An ancient civilization from a distant star could have created immortal machines to roam the Milky Way and keep its legacy alive". Scientific American . Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  22. ↑ Foust, Jeff (11 January 2021). "Review: Extraterrestrial". The Space Review . Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  23. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (26 January 2021). "Did an Alien Life-Form Do a Drive-By of Our Solar System in 2017?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  24. 1 2 Fletcher, Seth (24 August 2023). "How a Harvard Professor Became the World's Leading Alien Hunter - Avi Loeb's single-minded search for extraterrestrial life has made him the most famous practicing astronomer in the country — and possibly the most controversial. + comment". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  25. ↑ Tingley, -Brett (20 July 2023). "Interstellar meteor fragments found? Harvard astronomer's claim sparks debate, criticism - Avi Loeb is no stranger to controversy". Space.com . Archived from the original on 25 August 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
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