What does the wow signal have to do with aliens? Science answers!

Since the spread of technology in science, humanity has been searching for aliens, and as a result, the detection of alien life would be considered a very important discovery for human society. In mid-1977, A team of scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute It detected a signal called the Wow Signal, which many scientists think comes from an alien civilization..

After another day of work, on August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman began examining the latest data collected by the Big Ear Radio Observatory radio telescope in the United States.

While analyzing a presumed anomaly in the data, he found a signal containing evidence of possible extraterrestrial origin. At that moment, he circled the data with a pen and wrote ‘Wow’; Thus the sign got its name.

“Was that ET or wasn’t it? No one knows. No one has come up with another explanation for what it could be. It’s like hearing chains rattling in the attic and thinking, ‘Oh my God, ghosts are real.’ But then you never hear them again, so what?” what do you think? said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, in a message to the website. Astronomy.

TecMundo gathered information from scientists, astronomers, and experts in the field to explain a little more what the Wow signal is and what its relationship is to extraterrestrials. Check out!

Wow signal and aliens

According to information at the time, the signal was emanating from the constellation Sagittarius and supposedly represented the ‘signs’ that astronomers would expect from an extraterrestrial civilization. When reading the calculation model used at that time, the signal was recorded as ‘6EQUJ5’, but after Ehman’s comment it became known as the Wow Signal.

Order of collected signals The observation by the Big Ear radio telescope lasted about 72 seconds, but it was never detected again after the emission in 1977.. To date, it is considered the best candidate for a possible signal emitted by some type of extraterrestrial technology. Unfortunately, after several attempts to find it again, scientists returned to their search ’empty-handed’.

The description ‘6EQUJ5’ is not any code, it is actually a record of the strength of the Wow Signal; It was 30 times louder than the background noise detected by the radio telescope and had all the characteristics of an extraterrestrial signal.

“What makes the Wow! signal so interesting to SETI researchers is that it fits the profile of what they would expect an ET signal to look like. Its frequency of about 1420 megahertz lies in the ‘water window,’ a quiet position very close to resonance. The frequency of neutral hydrogen extends to the frequency of water,” SETI researchers said. They believe this frequency would make sense for an ET to transmit. The intensity and duration of the Wow! signal also matched exactly what a source’s extraterrestrial point space would look like when received by Big Ear,” the Houston Astronomical Society describes in a release.

According to physicists Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi, an alien civilization could send radio signals to Earth using the 1420 megahertz frequency naturally emitted by hydrogen, the most common element in the universe.

The intensity and frequency of the Wow Signal are consistent with the above-mentioned characteristics, so it remains a mystery to the scientific community. While some believe that it was actually sent by extraterrestrials, others claim that the answer to this mystery lies in natural resources in the universe..

What is a Wow Signal?

Approximately 47 years after the event that gave birth to the subject, dozens of scientists suggest the following: The signal may originate from different natural sources, such as comets and hydrogen clouds near Sagittarius. However, it is possible that the signal will remain a great mystery forever unless it is detected again by SETI or other astronomical institutions.

In a study published in the scientific journal Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, a group of scientists used different telescopes to analyze the region from which the signal was emitted but did not find any evidence of the existence of an extraterrestrial civilization in the constellation Sagittarius.. According to Shostak, this is a much more relevant issue to the public than to the astronomers themselves because there is no evidence that this is actually a message from alien beings.

Astronomer Antonio Paris suggested in 2017 that the frequency might have been mediated by comet 266P/Christensen, which was in the correct position when the signal was captured in 1977. In 2022, a scientific paper evaluated that the Wow Signal is emitted by a Sun. It is similar to the star known as 2MASS 19281982-2640123. The truth is, we still don’t know what it is, but many scientists and enthusiasts continue to support the extraterrestrial message theory..

“Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it is reasonable to speculate that an intelligent civilization in our galaxy, the Milky Way, in a desire to draw attention to itself, could transmit a strong narrowband beacon signal at or near the hydrogen neutral line frequency,” said Jerry Ehman, 30th anniversary of the detection of the Wow Signal. He wrote a message on his anniversary.

Always stay up to date with more astronomy curiosities at TecMundo. If you wish, take the opportunity to learn about the software developed by scientists that can detect ‘alien signals’.