The first known meteor visiting from beyond our solar system may have reached ...

An interstellar space rock may have entered Earth's atmosphere in 2014 — three years before the infamous 'Oumuamua was spotted. 

It is thought to have been three feet (one metre) long and was travelling at 134,200 mph when it was spotted above Papau New Guinea.

Astronomers say the meteor was propelled towards the Earth after receiving a speed boost from another planetary system or another star in the Milky Way. 

As a meteor, rather than a meteorite, the object would not have reached the ground - instead, it would have disintegrated in our planet's atmosphere.  

Avi Loeb, a Harvard scientist who previously claimed 'Oumuamua may have been an alien spacecraft, looked at the data and claims the 2014 meteor came from another star system.    

Scroll down for video 

This meteor would be the second object observed to have visited us from outside of our solar system. The first known body to journey to our neighbourhood for the depths of interstellar space was the cigar-shaped object dubbed 'Oumuamua (pictured), first detected in 2017

This meteor would be the second object observed to have visited us from outside of our solar system. The first known body to journey to our neighbourhood for the depths of interstellar space was the cigar-shaped object dubbed 'Oumuamua (pictured), first detected in 2017

'You can imagine that if these meteors were ejected from the habitable zone of a star, they could help transfer life from one planetary system to another,' Professor Loeb said of his latest discovery.  

The first known body to journey to our neighbourhood from the depths of interstellar space was the cigar-shaped object dubbed 'Oumuamua, first detected in 2017.

'Oumuamua is a Hawaiian word that translates to 'scout'. 

Based on the cigar-shaped comet's speed and trajectory, scientists have determined that 'Oumuamua likely journeyed to us from another star, or perhaps even beyond.

Professor Loeb created controversy back in 2017 when he suggested that the then recently spotted 'Oumuamua could potentially be a non-functioning or active probe sent by an alien civilisation. 

'Oumuamua is around 1,300 feet (400 metres) long.

However, Professor Loeb noted that one would expect for visiting interstellar bodies smaller than 'Oumuamua to be  much more common.

Furthermore, some of these visitors might even reach the Earth.

'We can use the atmosphere of the Earth as the detector for these meteors, which are too small to otherwise see,' Professor Loeb told Space.com. 

Professor Loeb (pictured, in 2016, attending the launch of the Breakthrough Starshot space exploration initiative) teamed up with fellow Harvard University astronomer Amir Siraj to trawl through 30 years of meteor sightings looking for small interstellar visitors

Professor Loeb (pictured, in 2016, attending the launch of the Breakthrough Starshot space exploration initiative) teamed up with fellow Harvard University astronomer Amir Siraj to trawl through 30 years of meteor sightings looking for small interstellar visitors

WHY DOES AVI LOEB THINK 'OUMUAMUA IS AN ALIEN PROBE?

In a paper published to Astrophysical Journal Letters, Avi Loeb and Shmuel Bialy from Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggest interstellar object Oumuamua could could be be an alien probe driven by a paper-thin light sail, either sent here intentionally or simply as a piece of debris.

This would explain its acceleration, which doesn't line up with predictions for an object of the kind it's thought to be; at the moment, data show Oumuamua is not an active comet.

According to Loeb, solar radiation pressure could be to blame for its acceleration - if it's an alien probe.  

'The lightsail technology might be abundantly used for transportation of cargo between planets or between stars,' the team writes.

'In the former case, dynamical ejection from a planetary System could result in space debris of equipment that is not operational any more, and is floating at the characteristic speed of stars relative to each other in the Solar neighborhood.'

To investigate this possibility, Professor Loeb and fellow Harvard University astronomer Amir Siraj went through 30 years of meteor sightings looking for small interstellar visitors.

They sourced their data from the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies' catalogue, which records meteor events detected by US government sensors. 

The team concentrated their investigation on the fastest meteors.

These higher speeds indicate that the object in question is not gravitationally bound to the sun, and could therefore have come from outside the solar system.

The researchers identified one such meteor that met such criteria.  

The object was

read more from dailymail.....

PREV Revealed: The popular dog breeds vets say you should AVOID buying because they ... trends now
NEXT The UK's most sustainable restaurants are revealed - and it's bad news for KFC ... trends now