Posted on 09/02/2004 9:23:19 AM PDT by Stoat
Astronomers at the SETI@Home project have spoken up to dismiss suggestions that the project intercepted signals from an alien civilisation.
Reports spread across the net yesterday and today after New Scientist said that an "interesting" signal had been picked up by the huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
The magazine quoted Dan Wertheimer, the chief scientist on the SETI@Home project, as saying that the signal was the most interesting yet identified by the project. He remarked: "We're not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."
Despite the otherwise sceptical tone of the article, his comments sparked speculation that we had actually made contact with another world. Sadly, this does not appear to be the case, and Wertheimer told ther BBC today that the idea of contact was "all hype and noise". "We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion," he said.
So the armies of the world can stand down - it was all a false alarm. There are no aliens trying to contact or destroy us, and we can all relax again. Phew.
The signal in question is dubbed SHGb02+14a, and has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This is also one of the main absorption frequencies of hydrogen. It is also the alien hunters' favourite place to go looking for deliberate signals from extra terrestrial civilisations.
The signal has only been observed on three occasions for about a minute each time. This is not really long enough for it to be analysed properly, scientists say, which means there are plenty of possible explanations for it.
Even discounting the suggestion that it is evidence of some natural phenomenon, scientists cannot rule out ground based interference, or the possibility that someone has hacked the SETI@Home program.
Bottom line: I would strongly recommend that any Freeper wasting CPU cycles on the SETI@Home project to consider something with far more immediate potential consequences, like Stanford's Folding@Home.
Can you say ECHO? echo, echo, echo
The transcript of what they heard, including the static:
sssssssssssssssssssss A FIERY HORSE WITH A SPEED OF LIGHT, A CLOUD OF DUST AND A HEARTY "HI-YO SILVER" sssssssssssssss LUUUUCY!YOU HAVE SOME SPLAINING TO DO ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss AMERICAN BANDSTAND WELCOMES THE DAVE CLARK FIVE FOR THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE ON OUR SHOW sssssssssssssssssssssss DOWN DINO, DOWN BOY, WILLLLLMAAAA! sssssssssssssssssssssss PLOP PLOP FIZZ FIZZ OH WHAT A RELEIF IT IS ssssssssssssssssssssssss
You mistranslated:
ssssssssssssssssssssssHOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN ? ssssssssss
sssssALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO USssssssssssYOU HAVE NO
CHANCE TO SURVIVE, MAKE YOUR TIME. . . .ssssssssssssssss
. . over and over again. How ELSE could you explain the "All your Base" phenomena ??? ;-P
"First of all, we have no evidence that life exists outside of this solar system."
Isn't SETI a search for that evidence?
Rosebud
"I'll be back!"
The Earth is flat too!
If we had other evidence that life existed outside of this solar system, then it would be much harder for me to argue against looking for it.
In fact, we're busy enough as it is trying to find life of non-Earthly origin in this solar system. (I say "non-Earthly origin" because if we find life on Mars there is the possibility that it was transported to Mars from Earth via a meteorite collision or something like that.)
Wow, that must have taken a lot of thought.
As an electrical engineer about to complete a Ph.D. I am hardly the Luddite type. But as an engineer I also look at the cost benefit analysis. And SETI doesn't measure up IMO. Now granted, people can spend money however the heck they want; and since SETI is privately funded I can't complain. I'm just saying it's a waste of resources and I would encourage anyone who will lend me an ear to pursue other more worthy scientific endeavors.
I will say this though: I liked the movie "Contact" :)
Shop smart, shop S-Mart
Why isn't this in Breaking News?!?
Could have been a great movie but the seeing her dad crap was really stupid. Ruined the whole movie.
YEAH! That couldn't happen in REAL life!
It's private money. We waste personal money on useless stuff all the time.
Cost/benefit analysis is used for public sector projects.
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