Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

by Avi Loeb

We could theorize a hypothesis starting from assumptions about ‘Oumuamua’s transit or from assumptions about its origins. If its peculiar shape and reflective properties had been the sum total of ‘Oumuamua’s distinctiveness, either theory might have been satisfactory. In that case, I would have remained curious but moved on. But I could not restrain myself from joining in this detective story for one simple reason. It concerned ‘Oumuamua’s most arresting anomaly. As I have mentioned, when ‘Oumuamua sped part of the way around the Sun, its trajectory deviated from what was expected based on the Sun’s gravitational force alone. There was no obvious explanation for why. This, for me, was the most eyebrow-raising bit of data we accumulated over the roughly two weeks we were able to observe ‘Oumuamua. This anomaly about ‘Oumuamua, along with the other pieces of information that scientists assembled, would soon lead me to form a hypothesis about the object that put me at odds with most of the scientific establishment.