Astronomers are set to scan an ‘alien’ comet for signs of extraterrestrial technology.

The cigar-shaped asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, sailed past Earth last month and is the first interstellar object seen in the solar system.

A team of alien-hunting scientists, led by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, will scan the comet this week before it sails beyond the reach of Earth’s telescopes.

They say they are looking for radio signals, claiming the mysterious visitor could be an alien spaceship.

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Milner, the business mogul behind Breakthrough Listen, a $100 million (£75m) search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, received an email about the object last week from one of his chief scientists, the Atlantic reports.

‘The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilisation,’ Professor Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department and one of Milner’s advisers on Breakthrough Listen, wrote in the email.

Professor Loeb said the space rock’s peculiar elongated shape is odd for a common space rock but ideal for a ship flying between star systems.

Breakthrough Listen has now announced the program will scan ‘Oumuamua this week for signs of radio signals.

‘Researchers working on long-distance space transportation have previously suggested that a cigar or needle shape is the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft, since this would minimise friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust,’ the research firm said in a statement……more here