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Humanity Responds to ‘Alien’ Wow Signal, 35 Years Later

Just in case any aliens out there in the universe are listening, more than 10,000 Twitter messages, plus videos from celebrities such as comedian Stephen Colbert, have been beamed into space as a big “Hello!” from Earth.

The messages are intended as a response to what’s called the Wow! signal, an intriguing radio signal detected on Aug. 15, 1977 that some thought was a call from extraterrestrials. The 72-second transmission was picked up by the Big Ear radio observatory at Ohio State University, coming from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

Because the radio signal was 30 times more powerful than the average radiation from deep space, a volunteer astronomer named Jerry Ehman who was watching the telescope data scrawled “Wow!” on a computer printout, leading to the signal’s moniker. No evidence ever arrived actually linking the transmission to an alien civilization, and no repeat message from the same direction has ever been detected, and the Wow! Signal remains a mystery.

Now, exactly 35 years later, whoever sent the emission may be getting a response.

A project directed by the National Geographic Channel and Arecibo Observatory beamed a package of digital information out to the heavens on Wednesday (Aug. 15) containing Twitter messages from the public, submitted via the hashtag #ChasingUFOs, as well as videos from celebrities such as Stephen Colbert, Jorge Garcia, and Leila Lopes, the 2011 Miss Universe. [Ten Alien Encounters Debunked]

“Greetings, intelligent alien life forms. I am Stephen Colbert and I come to you with an important message on behalf of all the peoples of the Earth,” the comedian says in his video. “We are not delicious. In fact, we’re kind of gamey, and we get stuck in your teeth. It’s really embarrassing at a job interview. If you want something good to munch on, go to the nearby Crab nebula. And bring a bib. Seriously, all you can eat.”

The event was timed to coincide with the premiere of the channel’s new series, “Chasing UFOs,” which documents and debunks myths about extraterrestrials and UFOs.

An Anomalous SETI Signal

Credit & Copyright: SETI League

No one knows for sure what caused this signal. There is a slight possibility that it just might originate from an extraterrestrial intelligence.

The bright colors on the blue background indicate that an anomalous signal was received here on Earth by a radio telescope involved in a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). A search for these signals is ongoing by several groups including volunteer members of the SETI League. Time labels the vertical axis of the above plot, and frequency marks the horizontal axis.

Although this strong signal was never positively identified, astronomers have identified in it many attributes characteristic of a more mundane and ultimately terrestrial origin. In this case, a leading possibility is that the signal originates from an unusual modulation between a GPS satellite and an unidentified Earth-based source.

Many unusual signals from space remain unidentified. No signal has yet been strong enough or run long enough to be unambiguously identified as originating from an extraterrestrial intelligence.

Gigantic Radio Telescope to Search for First Stars, Galaxies & Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Image: This image from LOFAR shows plasma jets from the black hole that stretch 2,000 light-years from the core of Cygnus A. Credit: J. McKean and M. Wise, ASTRON

More than 20,000 radio antennas will soon connect over the Internet to scan largely unexplored radio frequencies, hunting for the first stars and galaxies and potentially signals of extraterrestrial intelligence.

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will consist of banks of antennas in 48 stations in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, all hooked up by fiber optic cables. Signals from these stations will be combined using a supercomputer, transforming the array into “perhaps the most complex and versatile radio telescope ever attempted,” said Heino Falcke, chairman of the board for the International LOFAR Telescope.

Currently 16,000 of LOFAR’s antennas and 41 of its stations are up, and the array will be completed by the middle of this year. All told, LOFAR will have a resolution equivalent to a telescope 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) in diameter. In addition, “it’s an expandable design — we can always come along later and add additional stations,” said Michael Wise at ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.

Since LOFAR is so large, it can scan large parts of the heavens — its first all-sky survey, which started Jan. 9, can sweep across “the entire northern sky twice in just 45 days,” said George Heald of ASTRON.

Read on..

Citizen Science: Hunting For The E.T. Signals, Not Just For The Pros

Now that SETI is back up and running from what almost seemed an imminent death. I thought it would be good to leave this up. It’s SETI@Home, a volunteer site with a program directly linked with the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that provides you with tools and programs that make you a listener as well.

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver’s electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power [That’s where we the citizen scientists come in] enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

To Begin Participation, Start Your Journey to SETI Here

The Search — SETI

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

by spoonbard

The Search for Alien ‘Footprints’: Scientist Rethinks Hunt for E.T.

Any intelligent extraterrestrial life that exists probably won’t announce itself by blowing up the White House, or win over the hearts of children as a lovable alien with a glowing finger. Many scientists simply hope to find evidence of them by scanning the skies for a radio signal from a distant star’s alien civilization. But such efforts may also risk overlooking clues of past alien activity right here on Earth.

If aliens did leave their mark on Earth by some wild chance, we could search for the possible “footprints” of alien technology or even analyze the DNA of terrestrial organisms for signs of intelligent messages or tinkering. Such a CSI-style forensics search could complement, rather than replace, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) astronomers who continue to look skyward, said Paul Davies, a physicist and cosmologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.

“My proposals aim to spread the burden from a small band of heroic radio astronomers to the entire scientific community,” Davies said. “Projects like genomic SETI are an attempt to complement radio SETI, not undermine it.”

Davies wants scientists to broaden their thinking about how aliens could have left behind their mark. Having worked with SETI for three decades, he has written about his ideas in a book, “The Eerie Silence” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010) and articles such as one that appeared in the online August edition of the journal Acta Astronautica.

Notions To Consider When Thinking Of Life In Other Worlds

It’s unlikely that aliens are sitting around fiddling with rabbit ears in attempt to listen to our nonsense, but nevertheless, humans have been sending messages into space for decades. The first AM broadcast was on Christmas Eve, 1906, and Hitler’s broadcasting of the 1936 Olympics is regarded as the first signal powerful enough to be carried into space.

When compared to the vast size of the Milky Way, our presence here on Earth seems insignificant. Even our space-bound messages — which are traveling at the speed of light — are dwarfed by the galaxy’s immensity. The image on the left illustrates our “bubble” of existence, which spans 200 light years in all directions — but is just a small blip on the cosmic radar.(Via Geekosystem)

Meaning we’ve barely even scratched the surface of our own galaxy with our own human technology that could be left unheard if a more advanced or slightly different technology intercepts it. Yet, there’s still billions of other stars and galaxies to consider within our own vicinity.

There’s a lot of factors to consider before completely denouncing the existence of intelligent life in other planets similar or not similar to ours. Anyone with a general understanding of Astronomy or even Biology will tell you evolution plays a big part in the workings of these subjects. And evolution may not be restrained to Earth, who knows where else it took place and how it processed there.

What those organisms developed into within a different environment. And to push it further, what kind of communications they had. We assume too much down here, that others will develop the same as us and understand the way we perceived data. If they lived under different circumstances and resources would it not be safe to say that their infrastructure might also be initially incomprehensible since their communications and technologies reflect where they developed and how.

A lot of things to consider before claiming we are alone.

C. Sagan on SETI

Excerpt from an old CBC broadcast where Carl Sagan speaks about Extra-terrestrial life and the search of it.

Citizen Science: Hunting For The E.T. Signals, Not Just For The Pros

Now that SETI is back up and running from what almost seemed an imminent death. I thought it would be good to leave this up. It’s SETI@Home, a volunteer site with a program directly linked with the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that provides you with tools and programs that make you a listener as well.

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver’s electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power [That’s where we the citizen scientists come in] enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

To Begin Participation, Start Your Journey to SETI Here

Citizen Science: Hunting For The E.T. Signals, Not Just For The Pros

Now that SETI is back up and running from what almost seemed an imminent death. I thought it would be good to leave this up. It’s SETI@Home, a volunteer site with a program directly linked with the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that provides you with tools and programs that make you a listener as well.

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver’s electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power [That’s where we the citizen scientists come in] enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

To Begin Participation, Start Your Journey to SETI Here

Citizen Science: Hunting For The E.T. Signals, Not Just For The Pros

Now that SETI is back up and running from what almost seemed an imminent death. I thought it would be good to leave this up. It’s SETI@Home, a volunteer site with a program directly linked with the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that provides you with tools and programs that make you a listener as well.

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver’s electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power [That’s where we the citizen scientists come in] enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

To Begin Participation, Start Your Journey to SETI Here

SETI: The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and The Case of “The Wow!” Signal

One of my personal favorite SETI publications approved, detailing how SETI got a boost in interest early in the search with a lot help from the mysterious wow signal that was only ever detected once with the array.

Abstract

The Ohio State University SETI program is the longest continuously running electromagnetic Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence to date. In 1977 that sky survey detected a signal which seemed to fit all the characteristics anticipated for communications of intelligent extra-terrestrial origin. The so-called Wow! signal is interesting in its own right, and we analyze it here, applying time-honored reverse engineering principles in trying to ascertain its nature. But it is also important as a possible benchmark, in defining the signal characteristics for which future SETI projects might be searching. Microwave antenna, receiver and digital signal processing technologies have all advanced significantly in the two decades since the detection of the Wow! signal. If we take it as being typical of the types of signals which we are seeking, we can use it to calibrate the effectiveness of future generations of SETI receiving stations. We see that the amateur state-of-the-art is today easily capable of detecting any future Wow! signals which happen our way.

Introduction — Is Amateur SETI Practical?

The ambitious NASA SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) program, modestly funded at five cents per American per year, was terminated by Congress in October of 1993, reducing the Federal deficit by 0.0006%. Several organizations arose to privatize the research, including the membership-supported, non-profit SETI League, Inc. The SETI League differs from other space advocacy organizations in that it is a grass-roots movement, composed mainly of radio amateurs, which encourages its individual members to build and operate their own modest SETI receivers. A tax-exempt educational and scientific corporation, we are modeled in large part after the amateur communications satellite organizations, AMSAT and Project OSCAR.

The professional radioastronomy community has voiced an understandable skepticism as to the contributions to science which might be made by a handful of amateurs, funded at a small fraction of the former NASA SETI budget. The late SETI pioneer Dr. Bernard M. Oliver articulated this skepticism well. Barney Oliver’s credentials are impressive. Longtime vice-president of engineering for the Hewlett-Packard Company, he served as president of the IEEE, and was principle author of NASA’s ambitious 1971 Project Cyclops design study for detecting intelligent extra-terrestrial life. He said of amateur SETI, “If your system wouldn’t detect the strongest signal the ETI might radiate, then years of listening, or thousands doing it, won’t improve the chance of success. To cross the Golden Gate, we need a bridge about 10,000 feet long. Ten thousand bridges … one foot long won’t hack it.”

Barney made a good point, even if he was something of a dinosaur. The burden of proof falls to us in the amateur SETI community to demonstrate that our systems are indeed capable of detecting, at the very least, that strongest signal which an extra-terrestrial civilization might generate. We do so through the following analysis of the Ohio State “Wow!” signal. As for the Golden Gate analogy, it would be valid only if SETI proved a serial process. I suggest that it is more of a parallel enterprise, and hope to show in this paper that 10,000 volunteers can, if properly coordinated, accomplish something which Barney Oliver had never contemplated. For we seek to cross not just the Golden Gate, but the gulfs of space, in all directions at once, in real time.

Credit: Dr. H. Paul Shuch of SETI league

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