1977 72 second radio signal from space code#

In 1977, neither 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs were known of (they were discovered in 20 respectively) and Paris calculated that both comets would have been in the right place in the sky when the Wow! signal was recorded. (and an ex-analyst of the US Department of Defense), suggested that the signal might have been generated by one of two comets that serendipitously drifted into the line of sight of the Big Ear radio telescope. So, when researching other possible causes of the Wow! signal that were also rare occurrences (but not aliens), Antonio Paris of St Petersburg College, Fla. Definite proof of chatty aliens? A solid nope. More data is obviously needed and yet, since 1977, there’s been no other radio signal quite like it.Ĭurious, yes. It would be like trying to plot a trend line on a graph with one data point. To science, one random signal in the dark proves nothing. The maddening thing about the Wow! signal has always been a lack of replication.

( Discovery News, April 18, 2016) Maksim Rossomakhin

The wave profile of the “Wow!” signal is graphically envisaged here. As the burst suggests, the signal strength hit “6” and then blasted through the letters reaching a peak of “U” before subsiding back into the numerical scale at “5.” There was then a slight wave trailing the main signal (hence the circled “6″ and “7″).

1977 72 second radio signal from space code#

This particular code first uses the numbers 1-9 and then the alphabet A-Z to denote signal strength. The Big Ear printout contains a bunch of apparently random numbers and letters, but Ehman’s red pen circles a cluster of digits “6EQUJ5” with other circles around a “6” and “7” on separate columns. To the untrained eye, the assortment of printed digits might not mean much, but as I wrote in 2016, those letters and numbers could hold the answer to the biggest question we’re currently asking of the universe: Are we alone? While pointing at three star systems called Chi Sagittarii in the constellation of Sagittarius, Big Ear had picked up a powerful burst of radio waves. When found by astronomer Jerry Ehman on that fateful night, the 72-second signal - that had been recorded on a computer printout - certainly stood out. Nearly 40 years later, we finally know what caused it and, sadly, it’s not aliens.įor decades, the signal has been the strongest piece of “go-to” evidence that intelligent extraterrestrials are out there in our galaxy. ET Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope detected a curious signal from deep space.