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Loeb's team claims Pacific spherules have an extrasolar origin

When: 29 Aug 2023
Where: Manus Island, Papua New Guinea
Sources: 2 public sources

Avi Loeb, who led the 2023 spherule expedition off Manus Island Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Avi Loeb and 33 co-authors posted a preprint saying some seafloor spherules from their June 2023 expedition off Manus Island had an unusual 'BeLaU' composition suggesting an extrasolar source. Other researchers argued the grains matched coal ash or ordinary sources; Loeb disputed that.

Sources

FirsthandDiscovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide (arXiv:2308.15623) (opens in a new tab)arXiv / 2023-08-29
FirsthandThe BeLaU Spherules from IM1's Site Are Not Coal Ash (Avi Loeb) (opens in a new tab)Avi Loeb (Medium) / 2024-01-09

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This reports on Avi Loeb's Pacific expedition dredges spherules near Manus Island (Jun 2023).

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