Moorad,
Considering the low probability of detecting anything remotely intelligent
from outer space, one wonders why society spends the time and effort on
this. Could it be that, deep down, some are afraid that mankind is "home
alone"?
Chuck Vandergraaf
-----Original Message-----
From: Moorad Alexanian [mailto:alexanian@uncwil.edu]
Sent: Thursday January 18, 2001 7:51 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Is this a signal from aliens?
Wednesday, 17 January, 2001, 16:51 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1122000/1122413.stm
Still no sense in signal
Is this a signal from aliens?
By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse
A detailed look at the point in space from where an intelligent signal might
have come has revealed nothing unusual.
The Ohio Big Ear detected the Wow signal
The observations, using the multiple radio dishes of the Very Large Array
(VLA) in New Mexico, US, add to the mystery of what has been called the
"Wow" event.
In August 1977, radio astronomers detected what could have been a signal
from intelligent life in space. But it happened only once.
Now, two researchers, Robert Grey and Kevin Marvel, have used the VLA to
look at the source location with unprecedented sensitivity. They saw nothing
strange or anything that could explain the signal.
Narrow band
The Wow signal as it has become known is often described as our best
candidate for a signal from an alien intelligence in space.
On 15 August, 1977, a burst of radio waves was detected by the now
dismantled Big Ear radio telescope of Ohio State University. The person who
spotted it, astronomer Jerry Ehman, was so surprised that he scribbled "Wow"
on the print-out.
The event had all the properties that astronomers expected in a signal from
an alien intelligence. It was confined to a narrow band of frequencies and
it was very close to the "hydrogen line", a natural signpost in the
spectrum.
Because the Ohio telescope cannot move, it was only possible to see the
signal as it passed across the telescope's field of view. From the way the
signal was detected, astronomers were certain it was coming from a point on
the sky.
Mystery remains
It only lasted 72 seconds and although researchers later looked at that same
patch of sky over a hundred times, they saw nothing. The signal, if it was a
signal, was a one-off event.
The VLA was used for a more sensitive search
Some researchers have said it was man-made interference but others pointed
to the signal's characteristics and said it definitely came from the sky.
Since 1977, other radio astronomers have looked at that spot on the sky in
the hope of a repeat performance, but to no avail.
The latest series of observations, described in the current issue of the
Astrophysical Journal, are more than a 100 times more sensitive than the
original Ohio observations.
Grey and Marvel see two faint radio sources at the position that Wow came
from but both are nothing unusual.
So, the mystery of the Wow signal remains.
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