A Harvard professor has claimed in his new book that alien debris passed near Earth in 2017. It has attracted both scepticism and intrigue

<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5ff1b94ca18a450018cb689c-2400/The OUMUAMUA object rendering Hawaii observatory aliens.JPG" border="0" alt="The OUMUAMUA object rendering Hawaii observatory aliens.JPG" data-mce-source="European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser/Handout via Reuters" data-mce-caption="This artist's impression shows the first-known interstellar object to visit the solar system, &amp;quotOumuamua,&amp;quot which was discovered on October 19, 2017, by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii, U.S., with subsequent observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>An extraterrestrial object skimmed through space close to Earth in 2017, wrote a Harvard University astronomer, Avi Loeb, in a book to be published this month.&nbsp;</p><p>It was the first sign of intelligent life outside Earth, according to Loeb.&nbsp;</p><p>Scientists at a Hawaiian observatory saw "an object soaring through our inner solar system, moving so quickly that it could only have been from another star," according to the marketing summary for the <a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Extraterrestrial/9780358274551">Houghton Mifflin Harcourt</a> book, "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth."</p><p>The object wasn't a natural occurrence, but a bit of space junk ejected by another galaxy, according to Loeb, a <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/">professor of science</a> with a doctorate in physics.&nbsp;</p><p>"There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization," according to HMH.&nbsp;</p><p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5ff1b5849ff41f001883fad0-2400/Avi Loeb Stephen Hawking 2016.JPG" border="0" alt="Avi Loeb Stephen Hawking 2016.JPG" data-mce-source="Lucas Jackson/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Physicist Avi Loeb, right, on stage with physicist Stephen Hawking and others in New York in 2016."></p><p>In a review, Publishers Weekly called the book a <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-358-27814-6">"contentious manifesto."</a>&nbsp;</p><p>But Loeb wasn't alone in his excitement about the object, which was called "1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua" by Nasa.</p><p>"The first confirmed object from another star to visit our solar system, this interstellar interloper appears to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue," NASA said in its <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/oumuamua/in-depth/">description of the object.</a>&nbsp;</p><p>"For decades we've theorized that such interstellar objects are out there, and nowfor the first timewe have direct evidence they exist," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/solar-system-s-first-interstellar-visitor-dazzles-scientists">when</a> it was originally discovered.&nbsp;</p><p>He added: "This history-making discovery is opening a new window to study formation of solar systems beyond our own."&nbsp;</p><p>In the book-jacket blurb, Anne Wojcicki, CEO and cofounder of 23andMe, wrote that Loeb's new book "convinces you that scientific curiosity is key to our future success."</p><p>"An exciting and eloquent case that we might have seen a sign of intelligent life near Earthand that we should search further," she wrote.&nbsp;</p><p>Fellow Harvard professor Eric Maskin, a Nobel laureate in Economics, added: "Is the hypothesis right' Who knows. But let's try to find out!"</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-object-close-to-earth-in-2017-says-harvard-professor-2021-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-usns-comfort-hospital-ship-new-york-coronavirus-covid-19-2020-3">How the Navy's largest hospital ship can help with the coronavirus</a></p>
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