Huge space object passing by Earth 'would have been wandering in interstellar space for aeons', says Science Museum expert

A huge mystery object passing by Earth at 196,000 mph "would have been wandering in interstellar space for aeons," a Science Museum expert has said.

The bizarre cigar-shaped entity discovered by astronomers in Hawaii is thought to be an interstellar asteroid which has come from another part of the galaxy.

But its huge size and speed has also led experts to suggest it could actually be an example of intelligent life or alien spacecraft.

Doug Millard, Space Curator at London's Science Museum said that the space object dubbed "Oumuamua" is most likely to have come from another star system in the Milky Way.

He said: “If indeed it is an interstellar object then it would presumably have come from one of the nearer star systems which we are only now starting to discover beyond our own.

“But the nearest of those is still several light years distant so the object would have been wandering in interstellar space for aeons.”

Researchers involved in the SETI – Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence – project are preparing to point a powerful telescope at the bizarre object to find where it came from.

From 8pm UK time on Wednesday, December 13, the giant dish - the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world - will "listen" to the object across four radio frequency bands spanning one to 12 gigahertz.

Using The Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, scientists will listen for radio signals being broadcast from the huge object for a period of four hours.

Mr Millard said in order for scientists to ascertain if the object is a piece of alien technology, they will need to hear “any sort of pattern, whether it is within any signals received or by way of the signal type."

He said that if the object, which is named after the Hawaiian term for "scout" or "messenger" is not a piece of interstellar technology then it is most likely to be a giant piece of metal or rock.

But it is the obscure shape of the object that has scientists questioning where it came from. Measuring hundreds of metres in length but with a width of only one tenth of that, it is unlike typical rocks found in space.

A statement from the $100 million (£75 million) SETI project Breakthrough Listen, launched by Russian digital tech mogul Yuri Milner in 2015, said: "Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimise friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust.

"While a natural origin is more likely, there is currently no consensus on what that origin might have been, and Breakthrough Listen is well positioned to explore the possibility that Oumuamua could be an artifact."

The object is currently about two astronomical units (AU) from Earth, or twice the distance between the Earth and sun.

Breakthrough Listen aims to survey a million nearby stars and 100 nearby galaxies looking for alien signals.

Since the 1960s there have been more than 98 Seti projects around the world, none of which have turned up any convincing evidence of extra-terrestrial civilisations.