Prof. Avi Loeb is an Israeli-American theoretical physicist, and he’s got the scientific community in an uproar after presenting what he suggested could be evidence of an alien civilization.

Before going any further, it’s important to point out that Loeb is not some no-name from the fringe of the scientific community. Among other credentials, from 2011 to 2020 he was the chair of the astrophysics department at Harvard University. And his research, including searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life here on earth, is being funded to the tune of $100 million.

His most recent discover was made a mile underwater near Papua New Guinea.

In 2014, a meteor dubbed “IM1” landed in the waters there and was identified by scientists as the only known “interstellar” meteorite—meaning that it originated from beyond humanity’s solar system.

In addition having come from so far away, Loeb noted there were other anomalies, such as the tremendous speed of IM1 and its durability under intense pressure.

Loeb and his team spent days at sea this summer using a magnetic sled to collect 50 small “spherules” from the meteor, which the professor identified as a steel-titanium alloy much stronger than the iron that tends to be found in common meteorites. His conclusion: These could be the remains of a spacecraft built by an advanced alien civilization.

“It felt like a miracle,” Prof. Loeb wrote on his blog following the discovery.