India, Aug. 9 -- Avi Loeb, the chair of the astronomy department at Harvard, has suggested that a Manhattan-sized interstellar object, which has been discovered speeding through our cosmic neighborhood, could have an alien origin. He has advised to stay ready as it "may come to save us or destroy us," the Independent reported.

Loeb is pointing towards 31/ATLAS, which was first spotted by a Chile-based telescope, which is part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). Initially, it appeared as an unknown asteroid that was on a path approaching the Earth's orbit.

Later on, a report about the observation was sent to the Minor Planet Center, the official authority which looks after the observation and reporting of new as...