A highly unusual objectwas spottedtraveling through the solar system in 2017.
It seems that whenever astronomers discover anything unusual, somebody claims it must be aliens.
Nearly all scientists believe that Oumuamua probably originates from outside the solar system.
But how feasible is this?
And how come most scientists disagree with the claim?
So it makes sense that Oumuamua could be one of these.
Wespotted another last year Borisov which suggests they are as common as we predict.
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This is not too unusual.
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Experts on comets and the solar systemhave exploredvarious explanations for this.
He argues the non-gravitational acceleration is a sign of deliberate maneuvering.
But claims like this, especially from experienced scientists are disliked by the scientific community for many reasons.
One isOccams razor, which tells us to look for the simplest solutions that raise the fewest new questions.
Aliens raise a whole set of supplementary questions (who, why, from where?)
which means Occams razor tells us to reject it, at least until all simpler explanations are exhausted.
Another sanity check isthe general rulethat extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
A not quite completely understood acceleration is not extraordinary evidence, as there are many plausible explanations for it.
Alien research
This doesnt mean that we shouldnt look for aliens.
A lot of time and money is being devoted to researching them.
Other interesting targets are the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
Jupiters moon Europa may harbor simple life in its internal ocean.
For example, the oxygen in the Earths atmosphere is there because life constantly produces it.
Signs of alien life would be an amazing discovery.
But when we do find such evidence, we want to be sure it is good.
This would give us much more reliable evidence than claims from somebody with a book to sell.
But rest assured this isnt it.
