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a drawing of an asteroid
European Southern Observatory / M. Kornmesser
An artist's concept of interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua') as it passed through the solar system.

Oumuamua: The first messenger

Oumuamua is the first external object observed to penetrate our solar system. It was first observed on October 19, 2017. At first, astronomers thought it was a comet, but after a few days it was reclassified as an interstellar object.  After Harvard professor Avi Loeb has written a book about Oumuamua, the speculation has started and the media is flooded with observations of UFOs.

Science Journalist Jens Degett from Science Stories talks to Professor Uffe Gråe Jørgensen from the Niels Bohr Institute about what we can learn from Oumuamua and about man's longing to meet representatives of foreign civilizations.

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If you are looking for a thorough critical review of the most talked about UFO incidents, Science Stories can recommend this article: "Understanding the Unidentified" by Michael Shermer.

The UFO archive: With regard to UFO reports, the Danish Armed Forces are at the forefront of the Americans.

Read an interview with Professor Avi Loeb: 'It would be arrogant to think we're alone in the universe'.