NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has captured one of the longest asteroids ever found. The oddly shaped object is as big as Empire State Building.
To get a sense of its scale, scientists have estimated the object is about 1,600-by-500 feet, roughly comparable to that of the world-famous landmark that looms over 100 stories above New York.
The supposed asteroid, which recently sped past Earth, has caught the attention of NASA astronomers for its bizarre long shape, reports ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com.
The space object is more than three times as long as it is wide and it is as dark as charcoal when viewed by the human eye, it appears to be scooped on one side and is spinning around every nine hours.
“Of the 1,040 near-Earth objects observed by planetary radar to date, this is one of the most elongated we’ve seen,” said Lance Benner, principal scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement.
The strange space object reminds us the infamous object called Oumuamua which was the first interstellar object, detected by the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, passing through the Solar System.
Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, believes that Oumuamua, an interstellar object first discovered in 2017, could be an alien spacecraft due to its peculiar properties.
Oumuamua is the first known interstellar object to enter our Solar System, and it has unusual characteristics like an elongated shape and a surprisingly high speed.
According to Loeb, these traits suggest that the object is not a comet or an asteroid, but instead could be an artificial craft sent from a distant alien civilization.
In addition, Oumuamua’s trajectory was not affected by the sun’s gravity, which means that the object is likely not made of the same materials as a regular comet or asteroid. Loeb argues that this could be an indication that the object is actually an alien probe, as it would require some form of propulsion to move so quickly.
