I am curious too. Of course, how to spend resources is another matter.
Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: Vandergraaf, Chuck <vandergraaft@aecl.ca>
To: 'Moorad Alexanian' <alexanian@uncwil.edu>
Cc: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Thursday, January 18, 2001 8:20 AM
Subject: RE: Is this a signal from aliens?
>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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