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An Interesting SETI Candidate in Hercules
Centauri Dreams ^ | 8/27/16 | Paul Gilster

Posted on 08/29/2016 7:20:51 AM PDT by LibWhacker

An Interesting SETI Candidate in Hercules

by Paul Gilster on August 27, 2016

A candidate signal for SETI is a welcome sign that our efforts in that direction may one day pay off. An international team of researchers has announced the detection of “a strong signal in the direction of HD164595” in a document now being circulated through contact person Alexander Panov. The detection was made with the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, in the Karachay–Cherkess Republic of Russia, not far from the border with Georgia in the Caucasus.

The signal was received on May 15, 2015, 18:01:15.65 (sidereal time), at a wavelength of 2.7 cm. The estimated amplitude of the signal is 750 mJy.

No one is claiming that this is the work of an extraterrestrial civilization, but it is certainly worth further study. Working out the strength of the signal, the researchers say that if it came from an isotropic beacon, it would be of a power possible only for a Kardashev Type II civilization. If it were a narrow beam signal focused on our Solar System, it would be of a power available to a Kardashev Type I civilization. The possibility of noise of one form or another cannot be ruled out, and researchers in Paris led by Jean Schneider are considering the possible microlensing of a background source by HD164595. But the signal is provocative enough that the RATAN-600 researchers are calling for permanent monitoring of this target.

RATAN_600

Image: The RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Here I’m drawing on a presentation forwarded to me by Claudio Maccone, from which I learn that the team behind the detection was led by N.N. Bursov and included L.N. Filippova, V.V. Filippov, L.M. Gindilis, A.D. Panov, E.S. Starikov, J. Wilson, as well as Claudio Maccone himself, the latter a familiar figure on Centauri Dreams. The work is to be discussed at a meeting of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee, to be held during the 67th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday, September 27th, 2016,

What we know of HD 164595 is that it is a star of 0.99 solar masses at a distance of roughly 95 light years in the constellation Hercules, and an estimated age of 6.3 billion years. Its metallicity is almost identical to that of the Sun. A known planet in this system, HD 164595 b, is 0.05 Jupiter mass with a period of 40 days, considered to be a warm Neptune on a circular orbit. There could, of course, be other planets still undetected in this system.

ratan_2

Image: Strong signal from the direction of HD 164595. “Raw” record of the signal together with expected shape of the signal for point-like source in the position of HD 164595. Credit: Bursov et al.

From the presentation:

The estimated probability ~2 X 10-4 to simulate the signal from the direction of the HD164595 by signal-like noise is small, therefore HD164595 is good candidate SETI. Permanent monitoring of this target is needed.

All of which makes excellent sense. We can’t claim the detection of an extraterrestrial civilization from this observation. What we can say is that the signal is interesting and merits further scrutiny.



TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: candidate; found; hd164595; hercules; seti
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1 posted on 08/29/2016 7:20:51 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

Does “a period of 40 days” mean that it orbits the star in only 40 days?

And wouldn’t that make it very close to the star?

And by “warm” Neptune, they mean boiling?


2 posted on 08/29/2016 7:27:17 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

All true. But the signal only comes from the general direction of the warm Neptune planet, the only planet they know about in that system. The signal might actually be coming from another planet that’s in orbit around the star.


3 posted on 08/29/2016 7:39:04 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

At this distance I doubt they could pinpoint the exact location of the signal from the solar system. It’s pretty good that they can pinpoint the system.

Having said that, the Russians sometimes get a little wild with their claims. There is a bit of “National Enquirer” in the Russian soul.


4 posted on 08/29/2016 7:42:49 AM PDT by henkster
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To: LibWhacker

The signal was received on May 15, 2015, 18:01:15.65 (sidereal time),...

Guess it takes a long time to reach the east coast, US.[dst]


5 posted on 08/29/2016 7:46:02 AM PDT by Adder (No, Mr. Franklin, we could NOT keep it.)
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To: LibWhacker
We get signal
6 posted on 08/29/2016 7:59:38 AM PDT by Noumenon (We owe them nothing: not respect, not loyalty, not obedience.)
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To: LibWhacker

Remember what Hawking warned: Maybe we don’t want them to find us


7 posted on 08/29/2016 8:03:46 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: LibWhacker
Very interesting.

The first commercial radio station, KDKA Pittsburgh, went on-air in 1921.

1921 was 95 years ago.

The star is 95 light years away.

Very interesting indeed!

8 posted on 08/29/2016 8:04:16 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim (Make America Great Again!)
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To: silverleaf

A Type II civilization that’s only 95 ly away? Not good. They could be benign and the best thing that ever happened to us, or...


9 posted on 08/29/2016 8:09:13 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Noumenon

Thoroughly enjoyed that, thanks. Weird as hell, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!


10 posted on 08/29/2016 8:10:43 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

It’s probably against Darwin’s Law on a galactic scale to crawl out of your protective covering and try to make friends with another species you know nothing about


11 posted on 08/29/2016 8:12:28 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: eCSMaster
Still have that pesky notion that 95 light years is only a one way trip, and we will need another ~95 years to get the return signal.

Unless there is an FLT solution ... but why stop at twice the SoL?

12 posted on 08/29/2016 8:13:39 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: silverleaf

At 95 light years away, even if they do find us, none of us will be alive by the time they get here, so I wouldn’t worry too much.


13 posted on 08/29/2016 8:27:02 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: texas booster
Well, the star is about a billion years older than SOL.

Maybe they figured out FTL.

But "it's a cookbook!" anyway.

14 posted on 08/29/2016 8:29:51 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim (Make America Great Again!)
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To: Boogieman
The good news is that they haven't seen the Milton Berle Show yet.

-PJ

15 posted on 08/29/2016 8:38:59 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.From Foxnews, May 31,)
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To: eCSMaster

So we are still 95 years from hearing their reaction.


16 posted on 08/29/2016 8:51:00 AM PDT by hattend (Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
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To: silverleaf

“Remember what Hawking warned: Maybe we don’t want them to find us”


Yes, let’s NOT send a signal back.

In fact, maybe someday we can retrieve the spacecraft we’ve sent out of the Solar System, to reduce the chance of being found. Obviously, we cannot recall our radio signals, but why advertise.

Heck, I’d be in favor of having TV and radio signals broadcast to space that show us having a nuclear war with each other, killing each other off and poisoning the planet. Maybe “they” will stay away as a result.

We are as ants or cockroaches to any interstellar civilization. Bad sci-fi movies and books notwithstanding, the world’s combined military forces might last somewhere between 5 minutes or a day against such technology.


17 posted on 08/29/2016 8:52:49 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: silverleaf

“It’s probably against Darwin’s Law on a galactic scale to crawl out of your protective covering and try to make friends with another species you know nothing about”


Let’s hope that our species is not going to be a candidate for the Galactic Darwin Award.


18 posted on 08/29/2016 8:54:06 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: LibWhacker
... a wavelength of 2.7 cm.

~11 GHz?

19 posted on 08/29/2016 8:54:26 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: eCSMaster

Yes but if they are responding to our signal it would need 190 years to get here from the date our signal left Earth.


20 posted on 08/29/2016 10:38:49 AM PDT by Brilliant
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