Astronomers Search for Interstellar Meteorites Using Large Magnets, For What?

KOMPAS.com – A group of astronomers said they were preparing to fish for a meteorite smaller than other star systems, which have crashed Pacific Ocean. They are trying to find the interstellar meteorite using magnet big.

Meteorite it ever hit Earth with energy equivalent to about 121 tonnes (110 metric tonnes) of TNT.

Therefore, a team from Harvard University plans to find the fraction meteor rock interstellar known as CNEOS 2014-01-08.

According to a study published in a pre-printed journal ArXiv in July 2022, CNEOS 2014-01-08 first hit Earth on January 8, 2014.

“Finding such a fragment would represent the first contact humanity has ever had with material larger than dust outside solar system,” said astrophysicist at Harvard University and study author, Amir Siraj.

Reported from Live ScienceWednesday (10/8/2022) Siraj identified the origin of interstellar objects in a 2019 study.

Read also: Rare 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite found in horse tracks

However, he only confirmed the findings to the US Space Command in May 2022. He said there were no witnesses related to the object, namely Interstellar meteorite that once hit Earth the.

“It (the meteorite) hit the atmosphere about a hundred miles (160 kilometers) off the coast of Papua New Guinea at midnight, with about 1 percent of the energy of the Hiroshima (atomic) bomb,” Siraj said.

Project to find meteorites

The project called Galileo owned by Siraj and Harvard Astrophysicist Avi Loeb, was a US$1.6 million expedition to bring down magnets of a similar size king bed, with a direction of 1.3 degrees south, 147.6 degrees east.

This is the location where the United States Department of Defense meteorite is located.

“CNEOS 2014-01-08 far exceeds the strength of ordinary iron meteorite material, which should make it easier to recover,” said Siraj.

The strength of the material in these interstellar meteorites refers to how easily something can withstand deformation or damage by the load.

Read also: Revealing Meteorite Falls in Central Lampung

–