The first time humans thought they heard the sound of extraterrestrials was back in 1977. Detected by astronomer Jerry Ehman using Ohio State University’s Big Ear telescope, the Wow! the signal was an extraordinary discovery at the time that came about as an accident. In a 72 second burst of radio waves, Ehman circled the reading and wrote “Wow!” next to it as was once thought to be proof of alien life.
However, more recently, Professor Antonio Paris of St. Petersburg College has discovered the real reason behind this signal. Much to many people’s disappointment the signal wasn’t from alien life, but wad in fact caused by a pair of comets known as 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs. These two comets have millions of kilometers worth of hydrogen gas clouds surrounding them and the radio frequency hydrogen they naturally emit sits at 1420MHz. The team has since discovered that both the radio signals from 266/P Christensen and those from the Wow! signal matched perfectly.
While alien enthusiasts may find this recent news disappointing as may not indicate extraterrestrial life as first experienced, it does still hold some excitement. It still gives us hope as we know we can now accurately record and interpret signals and sounds from the greater universe. It also gives hope that we may be able to decode some of the peculiar signals detected from other stars that have been observed more recently.
We have various instruments that can be used to detect signals now, many of which are used by the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI). ‘Project Phoenix’ is the organization’s most ambitious project so far and involves the “world’s most sensitive and comprehensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence.” This particular project makes use of three of the world’s largest radio telescopes. The are: the Parkes radio telescope, Australia; the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, West Virginia, and Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. The Allen Telescope Array has also been built under the project.
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