<story><title>Interstellar object exploded over Earth in 2014, declassified govmt data reveal</title><url>https://www.livescience.com/first-interstellar-object-detected</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kstrauser</author><text>Real answer:&lt;p&gt;I absolutely love being alive right now. A Higgs boson! Confirmed objects from outside our solar system! A real life picture of a black hole! We’re just at the start of being able to learn these things, and it’s getting better by the year. I love it.&lt;p&gt;Conspiracy answer:&lt;p&gt;The alien probe launched 10,000 years ago just determined that either:&lt;p&gt;1) Our atmosphere is sufficiently thick to cause the object to disintegrate over seconds instead of instantaneously, meaning there’s enough raw gaseous material to be interesting, or&lt;p&gt;2) We have an active defense system, meaning the local inhabitants are smart enough to be interesting.&lt;p&gt;In 46 years, when the light reaches its origin around 26 Draconis, observations will be recorded, reports will be filed, and plans will be made.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>EthanHeilman</author><text>Sending probes is dangerous. You never know who is going to capture it and figure out where it was sent from. Conclusion: make deniable self-destructing probes.&lt;p&gt;1. Send probe to star system slow enough to be random interstellar rock on a collision course with planetary body,&lt;p&gt;2. it collects data as it approaches body,&lt;p&gt;3. then have it self-destruct in the atmo destroying all technology and information in the probe. Use the energy from the destruction to send a message back on a wide cone that can be intercepted.</text></comment>
<story><title>Interstellar object exploded over Earth in 2014, declassified govmt data reveal</title><url>https://www.livescience.com/first-interstellar-object-detected</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kstrauser</author><text>Real answer:&lt;p&gt;I absolutely love being alive right now. A Higgs boson! Confirmed objects from outside our solar system! A real life picture of a black hole! We’re just at the start of being able to learn these things, and it’s getting better by the year. I love it.&lt;p&gt;Conspiracy answer:&lt;p&gt;The alien probe launched 10,000 years ago just determined that either:&lt;p&gt;1) Our atmosphere is sufficiently thick to cause the object to disintegrate over seconds instead of instantaneously, meaning there’s enough raw gaseous material to be interesting, or&lt;p&gt;2) We have an active defense system, meaning the local inhabitants are smart enough to be interesting.&lt;p&gt;In 46 years, when the light reaches its origin around 26 Draconis, observations will be recorded, reports will be filed, and plans will be made.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gleenn</author><text>Could you imagine trying to aim something at a moving planet from light years away and while also shooting it at that speed and not having potential a huge number of things affect it&amp;#x27;s trajectory via gravity? I love the conspiracy theory, but unless it could course-correct during flight, the odds seem insanely low for it to be a alien test probe</text></comment>