stargazer studying red gnome stars have spotted something in the background , which they opine explains a signal that has been dumbfound stargazer since its sleuthing over four decades ago . If they are right , it could represent an chance to amend our understanding of rare astronomic events .
In the seventies , the Big Ear telescope , operated by Ohio State University , was assigned to scan the sky looking for anomalies that might be ware of foreign civilizations . Looking at a printout collected in 1977 , voluntary Jerry Ehman noticed something so odd he circle it and wrote " Wow ! " nearby . The 72 seconds of data have been know as theWow ! signalever since . Although considered improbable to be the oeuvre of aliens , attempts to explainthe signal in other ways have mostly beenconsidered unsuccessful .
One of the thing that makes the Wow ! sign so intriguing is that , despite huge growth in the turn and office of radio telescopes , we have never seen anything like it . Until now , that is , with a team reporting multiple observations that resemble the original signal , other than being around 60 - 100 time unaccented . A composition describing these determination has yet to pass peer review but is available online as a preprint .
Surely the best-named mystery in astrophysics.Image credit: Big Ear Radio Observatory and North American AstroPhysical Observatory (NAAPO), Public Domain
Professor Abel Méndez of the University of Puerto Rico explore through file away data from the Arecibo Observatory collected from 2017 - 2020 . The giant scope was observing nearby ruby dwarf whiz in the hope of learning if their planets might be habitable . In the background behindTeegarden ’s Star , the squad noticed four intriguing signals , with other examples spot in two other event .
" Signal " in this vitrine refers to anything that is not random disturbance , rather than extraterrestrial communicating , as some people may think . The signals Méndez and co - authors found are , in their words , “ Easily identifiable as due to interstellar cloud of inhuman hydrogen ( HI ) in the extragalactic nebula . ”
Big Ear was looking for signals near the 1420 Mc hydrogen discharge crinkle . This is sometimes called “ the waterhole ” , both because hydrogen is a component of water , and because it is imagine civilizations might use this frequency to find each other , like animals at a waterhole . Frequencies around the line are relatively quiet , allowing communicating across the galaxy , while H ’s grandness makes it a coherent place to look .
“ Our latest notice , made between February and May 2020 , have let out similar narrowband signals near the atomic number 1 line , though less vivid than the original Wow ! Signal , ” Méndez state in astatement .
The Wow ! signal was distinctive for being abbreviated and only detected in a narrow-minded band of wireless frequencies . Both , peculiarly the latter , are rare for natural astronomical phenomena and require for exotic communicating . Méndez and carbon monoxide - authors think the Wow ! signal ’s surge was the resultant role of a hydrogen cloud being stimulated by something quick , like amagnetar flare .
Nobody made the connection between these and the Wow ! Signal before .
Activity from neutron principal , of which magnetars are a subtype , was considered as an account for the Wow ! signal from the beginning . However , the narrowness of the frequencies did not fit , and no suitable object was found on subsequent searches of the surface area of the sky where the signal was notice . However , a neutron star shortly perch up a cloud of hydrogen , whose discharge would be in the narrow band Big Ear notice , makes a much more plausible opening .
“ Our signals of cold-blooded atomic number 1 clouds have been known for decades , ” Méndez assure IFLScience , although they have not been assure often since they need a jumbo musical instrument like Arecibo to detect them . However , Méndez add , “ Nobody made the connective between these and the Wow ! Signal before . ” The team only noticed it because they had Arecibo in “ impetus style ” , as Big Ear was in the original detecting , letting astronomical objects pass tardily by .
Big Ear could not have detected a signal as washy as these . It was lucky the Wow ! signal was so much bright . Perhaps such smartness is exceptional but , Méndez noted to IFLScience , “ Our signals from cloud could become bright for minute of arc to hours due to a firm background radiation source . ”
To some extent any account of the Wow ! signal that does not involve aliens will let down many amateur . However , for professional uranologist this account , if confirm , will be an excellent solace prize .
Not only will it put up stargazer with something to check when look into any next suspicious signals , but it could teach us about the behaviour of both cold hydrogen clouds and whatever is stimulating them . The preprint notes that within a H swarm stimulated photon can trigger the emission of additional photons “ Leading to a speedy multiplication of photon act and accordingly a meaning increase in intensity . ” As a issue , we may notice surges in luminousness far beyond the original effect , alerting us to unusual and important astronomical behavior .
If the account is right , the Wow ! signal was the first detection of an astronomical hydrogenmaserflare , something subsequently detected in 1989 and observed only a few times since . Masers are lasers whose radiation is a microwave oven wavelength .
Even when astronomical hydrogen masers have been see , they have occurred at discharge lines other than 1420 MHz , so this would still be the only astronomical maser at that relative frequency . However , 1420 MHz masers have been produced in research laboratory , so we have sex they are potential .
WithArecibo now lamentably collapsed , the ruby-red nanus planet projection proceed with a much smaller instrument .
The yet to be peer - reviewed composition is uncommitted as a preprint onArXiv.org .
