  Recently a manuscript by Loeb et al. was uploaded to arXiv (preprint
2308.15623) that asserted that the CNEOS bolide 2014-01-08 was interstellar;
that spherules recovered from the seafloor near the airburst were associated
with this bolide; that they had Fe isotopic ratios indicating origin as
micrometeorites; that they had unusual chemical compositions enriched in Be, La
and U, never seen before in micrometeorite spherules; that these compositions
were formed in the magma ocean stage of a differentiated extrasolar planet; and
that the Be abundance reflected passage through the interstellar medium.
Despite not being peer-reviewed, this uploaded manuscript has been reported by
media outlets as "published", and its conclusions have been widely distributed
as fact. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide potential peer reviewers
and the general public with an appreciation of the multiple fatal flaws with
the manuscript's arguments. We discuss the published evidence that the
2014-01-08 bolide is not interstellar. We show that there is no statistical
spatial correlation of a chemical signature or even number of recovered
spherules with the 2014-01-08 bolide. We demonstrate that the Fe isotopic
ratios decisively indicate an origin in our Solar System, with > 99.995%
probability. We demonstrate that the unusual enrichments in La, U, etc., have
in fact been observed in micrometeorites before and attributed to terrestrial
contamination; and that the Be abundances are similarly consistent with those
of ferromanganese nodules, after reacting with sea water. Far from being exotic
particles from an extrasolar planet, the spherules collected and analyzed by
Loeb et al. appear to be just like those found around the world, with a Solar
System origin and compositions modified by tens of thousands of years residence
at the ocean bottom.
