Mysterious object moving through space could be lost Soviet probe as NASA weighs in on theory
A mysterious object speeding through the solar system is accelerating in a way gravity alone cannot explain, fueling a theory that it could be a Soviet spacecraft lost nearly four decades ago.
Key points
- Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb and researchers Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl have examined whether KY26 could actually be Phobos 1, an unmanned Soviet spacecraft that stopped communicating while traveling to Mars in 1988.
- NASA SHUTS OFF VOYAGER 1 INSTRUMENT TO SAVE POWER 15B MILES FROM EARTH KY26 is about 36 feet across, reflects roughly 52% of the sunlight that hits it and completes a full rotation every 5.35 minutes.
- GIANT ROBOTIC CLAWS WILL GRAB DEAD SATELLITES IN SPACE They also tested whether sunlight pushing against a cylinder or solar panels could help explain KY26's movement and found the model better matched hundreds of telescope and radar observations.
One theory has been that KY26 is a "dark comet" containing buried water that turns to gas and gives the object a push through space, even though astronomers have not detected the cloud or tail normally associated with a comet.
Additional details
- NASA CHIEF CONFIRMS AGENCY HAS UNEXPLAINED UFO IMAGERY: 'WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS' "First of all, nothing is about to hit us, to be very clear on this," Isaacman said.
- New research has now cast doubt on one explanation for what is pushing it through space.
- Known as 1998 KY26, the roughly 36-foot-wide object is believed to be a near-Earth asteroid, but something other than gravity appears to be affecting its path.
- HARVARD ASTRONOMER TAPPED TO LEAD WHITE HOUSE UFO COUNCIL SAYS US GOVERNMENT 'BAFFLED BY WHAT THEY ARE SEEING' Another group of researchers, however, has explored a far more unusual possibility.
- GET BREAKING NEWS BY EMAIL For Loeb, that encounter could provide the ultimate test of the Phobos 1 theory.
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