Oumuamua streaked across the sky over the Pacific Ocean in 2017, the most likely sign yet of other intelligent life in the universe, at least according to leading astrophysicist Avi Loeb. Many scientists dismissed Oumuamua, Hawaiian for “scout,” as just another comet. Loeb recognized it as the first object ever seen that originated outside of our solar system, and a likely sign of intelligent life searching the heavens.
Which means someday the Earth might be discovered by beings a whole lot smarter than us. Then what?
Subscribe to keep reading
This story is from our archive. Get your SandPaper Annual Pass for access to our digital archive, plus everything else a pass includes. Details below.
Annual Pass — $18 Details
365-day access to:
- The complete SandPaper digital archive (stories date back to 2012).
- Full photo galleries from our photographers.
- The entire catalog of SandPaper games, puzzles and quizzes.
How it works
- Enter your email below and click to pay the one-time $18. Card details are entered on Stripe’s secure page.
- You’re in straight away — no password to create, and nothing to set up or manage.
- You stay signed in. If you’re ever signed out, or you read on a new phone or computer, we’ll email you a code to get you back in.
- Never auto-renews. Your pass is good for one year. We will email you when it expires so you can renew if you’d like.
See our site policies for more information.
Already a subscriber? We’ll email a code to get you back in.
















