An interstellar space rock hit our planet five years ago

Last year a cigar-shaped rock now called Oumuamua' flew past our sun. The visitor made it to the headlines across the globe. But it might not be the first instellar object to make a close approach to our planet, a new study claims.

A new paper from Harvard astronomers suggests that a meteor hit our planet's atmosphere above Papua New Guinea may also be an outsider for our solar system. The researchers found that the meteor that hit our planet in 2015, by looking for objects that were very swift to be orbiting the sound.

The space rock travelled towards our planet at around 37 miles per second, a speed so high suggests it might have originated outside or solar system. The reseachers suggests that the new findings 'implies a possible origin from the deep interior of a planetary system or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way galaxy.'

'I think it is reasonable to conclude that this very high speed impactor came from the population of interstellar object,' said Kat Volk from the University of Arizona.

'I expect interstellar objects to be common enough - both from theoretical considerations and from the implications of 'Oumuamua - that I think an interstellar origin is the simplest explanation for this bolide.'

Besides, an asteroid known as the NASA Asteroid 2019 GN, skimmed Earth on a so-called "Earth Close Approach" trajectory. The space agency's asteroid trackers said the space rock flew past our planet on April 13. The space agency estimated that the meteoroid was travelling at speeds of around 26,574.8 mph (42,768kph) or 11.88km per second.