An objected was sighted moving through our solar system in early November 1991 by astronomer James Scotti of the University of Arizona. There are many objects and phenomena to observed in our celestial back yard but this one had enough irregularities for the scientific community to take note. It has been designated as 1991 VG and is 10 meters (a little over 30 ft) in diameter. The object has an heliocentric orbit that spans past the edge of our galaxy. This orbit is unusually similar to our own spinning orb, objects in space as small as VG don’t normally behave like this. The continued speed 1991 VG doesn’t make any since either. It continues to move at a varying speed which is baffling.
The mysteries continue to stack up. After we predicted its orbit, it was realized that VG had passed Earth in 1975. The changing increments of time are anomalous. The object had a strangely high rotational spin and seemed to fluctuate in brightness. The luminescent variance is probably the most confusing element of this mystery. This unusual number of anomalies in a single event makes identifying the object nearly impossible. No mutually agreeable theory has been offered.
Theories shot up like weeds after the news of 1991 VG hit the public. Its size, orbit and speed strike the normal suggestions off the list. One theory was that it was a part of Apollo 12, the second rocket to land on the moon. The timing and size don’t fit though. Scotti stated that there were few man made space vehicles that could fit the size and the window of time the object has been known to appear.
The other theory says that its a Russian rocket body or other secret accident. The Russians were attempting to get the moon with rockets as powerful as ours. If anything went wrong then the Russian government was quick to cover it up. With no comment from Russia we can only guess.
The most popular theory is aliens. 1991 VG is a alien ship or probe that is keeping tabs on our neck of the woods. Duncan Forgan and Arwen Nicholson are two mathematicians from University of Edinburgh that are attempting to prove that there is the possibility of alien craft operating in our galaxy. They published all supporting evidence in the Journal of Astrobiology. They surmise that the aliens use gravitational sling shots to quickly travel about the universe. This is the same technology the Voyager probes used.
Science has progressed since the last time we saw 1991 VG. We have found meteoroids with unusual rotational spins of similar size. We have also been made aware that certain chemical reactions can occur that cause light fluctuations. Until we see VG in 2017 scientists are left to speculate.