Posted on Feb 4, 2019
Since publishing a highly controversial paper on the recent interstellar visitor to our solar system, writes Avi Selk in the Washington Post, Abraham Loeb, head of Harvard’s astronomy department, “has run a nearly nonstop media circuit, embracing the celebrity that comes from being perhaps the most academically distinguished alien civilization enthusiast of his time — the top Harvard astronomer who suspects technology from another solar system just showed up at our door. And this, in turn, continues has left some of his peers nonplused — grumbling at what they see as a flimsy theory or bewildered as to why Harvard’s top astronomer won’t shut up about aliens.”
What we know — and don’t know — about aliens and UFOs The Post’s Cleve Wootson explains why a recent admission from the government is like pouring kerosene on UFO conspiracy theories. (Video: Monica Akhtar/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
What you can’t call Loeb, writes Selk, is a crank. When astronomers in Hawaii stumbled across the first known interstellar object in late 2017 — a blip of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star — Loeb had three decades of Ivy League professorship and hundreds of astronomical publications on his résumé, mostly to do with the nature of black holes and early galaxies and other subjects far from any tabloid shelf.
“The Last Word” –Clashing Conclusions on the Oumuamua Interstellar Mystery from SETI’s Seth Shostak and Harvard’s Avi Loeb
“Interstellar Rock or God-Like Alien Technology?” –Doubts About ‘Oumuamua’ Visit Linger
Continue reading…. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/harvards-top-astronomer-says-an-alien-ship-may-be-among-us–and-he-doesnt-care-what-his-colleagues-think/2019/02/04/a5d70bb0-24d5-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html?utm_term=.7b16bf2fce17