This project will search for extraterrestrial civilizations and technologies using telescopes on Earth.
Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, believes that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object ever observed, is an alien spacecraft. He recently announced the project named Galileo Project, named after the Italian astronomer, on July 26, to seek physical evidence, technology, and extraterrestrial civilizations.
Oumuamua showed signs of accelerating and then disappearing as it passed Earth in 2017. Since then, Loeb has decided to search for the existence of extraterrestrial life, despite most of his colleagues believing it is merely a space rock, a comet, or debris from a small planet.
Avi Loeb, a prominent scientist in the field of astrophysics and cosmology. (Photo: Town Hall Seattle).
“This is like a fishing trip; we will catch everything, including objects near Earth, floating in the atmosphere, or strange items from outside the Solar System,” Loeb stated.
The Galileo Project has an investment of $1.75 million, funded by at least four donors, and will employ a network of telescopes on Earth for its search.
The Hunt Before the Object Passed Earth
When astronomers discovered Oumuamua, the observational capabilities of several ground-based telescopes and space telescopes were limited, leaving them only a few weeks to study the skyscraper-sized object. At that time, it was already speeding away at about 315,000 km/h.
Illustration of Oumuamua passing through the Solar System in 2017. (Photo: NASA).
Many began to question the existence and origin of this object. In a book published by Loeb in January, he describes Oumuamua as a relic of an extinct extraterrestrial civilization or an operational device from outside Earth.
“This object is very unusual, making us pay attention to it,” Loeb added.
A second interstellar object was discovered by astronomers two years after Oumuamua, known as comet 2I/Borisov.
With the Galileo Project, Loeb and 14 other researchers plan to utilize the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii and an 8-meter telescope currently under construction at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.
Large survey telescope building at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Cerro Pachón, Chile. (Photo: Wikimedia).
According to Frank Laukien, co-founder of the Galileo Project, early detection could allow scientists to send probes to these objects.
“We will obtain information sooner next time, allowing us to approach or land on them,” Laukien said.
Searching for Signs Beyond Earth
The Galileo Project will supplement the SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial life using radio telescopes. However, according to Loeb, his project will seek physical evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations rather than radio signals.
Loeb also plans to investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in Earth’s atmosphere.
Image from Navy footage of unidentified aerial phenomena. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense).
In June, U.S. intelligence officials released a report detailing 144 incidents from 2004 involving military personnel encountering UAPs, which remain unexplained. However, one of them was identified as a deflating balloon phenomenon.
“This is an unusual acknowledgment from the government regarding the mysterious existence of objects in the sky,” Loeb remarked.
Additionally, Loeb hopes that future images of UAPs will have higher resolution by creating a network of 1-meter telescopes worldwide. Each of these telescopes costs $500,000 and can detect small details of 1 mm on a person from 1.6 km away.
Moreover, the Galileo team plans to make data public to encourage more scientists to participate in the search.
“Searching for other life in the universe will help us mature, realizing that we are not perfect, and that there may be an intelligence far beyond humanity existing out there,” Loeb shared.
