Posted on 12/21/2020 6:57:45 AM PST by Red Badger
Astronomers hunting for radio signals from alien civilizations have detected an "intriguing signal" from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star system to the sun, The Guardian reported.
The researchers are still preparing a paper on the discovery, and the data have not been made public, according to The Guardian. But the signal is reportedly a narrow beam of 980 MHz radio waves detected in April and May 2019 at the Parkes telescope in Australia.
The Parkes telescope is part of the US$100 million Breakthrough Listen project to hunt for radio signals from technological sources beyond the solar system. The 980 MHz signal appeared once and was never detected again. That frequency is important because, as Scientific American points out, that band of radio waves is typically lacking signals from human-made craft and satellites.
Breakthrough Listen detects unusual radio signals all the time - between earthly sources, the Sun's natural radio output and natural sources beyond the Solar System, there are a lot of radio waves bouncing around out there.
But this signal appears to have come directly from the Proxima Centauri system, just 4.2 light-years from Earth. Even more tantalizing: The signal reportedly shifted slightly while it was being observed, in a way that resembled the shift caused by the movement of a planet. Proxima Centauri has one known rocky world 17 percent larger than Earth, and one known gas giant.
The Guardian quoted an unnamed source with apparent access to the data on this signal as saying "It is the first serious candidate for an alien communication since the 'Wow! Signal,'" a famous radio signal detected in 1977 that also resembled a technosignature.
But The Guardian cautioned that this signal is "likely to have a mundane origin too."
Such more mundane sources include a comet or its hydrogen cloud, which also could explain the Wow! Signal.
Penn State University's Sofia Sheikh, who led the analysis of the signal for Breakthrough Listen, voiced her excitement about it: "It's the most exciting signal that we've found in the Breakthrough Listen project, because we haven't had a signal jump through this many of our filters before," Sheikh told Scientific American, adding that the signal is now being referred to as Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1, or BLC1.
An inherent challenge in searching for alien communications is that no one knows how aliens might communicate, and no one knows all the potential natural sources of radio waves in the Universe. So when signals arrive that seem even plausibly technological and don't come with easy natural explanations, it's tempting to make the jump to aliens.
So far, no data on this signal is public, and it's likely that even when it does become public there will be no conclusive answers; that's what happened with the Wow! Signal after all.
This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here:
https://www.livescience.com/proxima-centauri-mystery-radio-beam.html
It’ll probably be a sportscast.
NOT If it is an intelligent civilization.............
When decoded it said “Trump won by a lot”
Some sort of PSA about not using warp drives or don’t use black holes for waste disposal.
Just a marketing gimmick for the upcoming Avatar movie.
Since the gal from Happy Valley is so excited about the signal, I’m guessing it’s in the form of a “wolf whistle” that a sailor might whistle at a girl. Prolly thinks it was aimed at HER. You’re so vain! I’ll bet you think I’m whistling at you......
The aliens may not have social justice idiots in sports.
Given the laws of physics, radio signals are the only way that aliens, who logically probably exist in a universe with “hundreds of billions of galaxies” to communicate with earth. Earth has been transmitting radio signals in analog for 120 years and in digital for about fifty. Someone has probably heard and a return communication may have arrived or may soon arrive. It is not farfetched to speculate that there are distant civilizations linked by a network of radio communications but alas questions and answers take centuries. Sorry but mechanical and biological entities coming to earth from distant stars is not possible. You either believe Einstein or in the existence of UFOs. You can’t believe in both. You can speculate that a distant alien civilization is using our atmosphere as a giant video screen having “UFOs” appear, do physically impossible tricks and then suddenly disappear. Perhaps aliens have a sense of humor.
Per the DJ in tHHGttG it’s him reminding all the rest (non spacefaring people) to keep banging the rocks together.
Or intragalactic ambulance chasers. "You may be entitled to compensation! If you, or any member of your family took the COVID vaccine in 2020 and later showed any of these symptoms, call Jonnie Coketrain Associates, 1-800-Alpha-Centuri-B."
The researchers are still preparing a paper on the discovery, and the data have not been made public
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Sounds like a request for a grant of a few million dollars to “finish things up” might be in the offing.
Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine.
Followed by masks don’t work.
Translation:
B-U-R-M-A S-H-A-V-E
“Klaatu barada nikto”
Thanks. Good to laugh during these tough times.
Given the CURRENT laws of physics.........................
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