Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away

[iNeo 0]

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341[/url])]Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away

...

This radio signal, now seen on three separate occasions, is an enigma. It could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon. Or it could be something much more mundane, maybe an artefact of the telescope itself.

[...] it does not bear the signature of any known astronomical object.

That does not mean that only aliens could have produced it. “It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind like I stumbled over,†says Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath, UK.

...

There are other oddities. For instance, the signal’s frequency is drifting by between eight to 37 hertz per second. “The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that’s rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet,†Korpela says.

...

David Anderson, director of SETI@home, remains sceptical but curious about the signal. â€It’s unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it.†Bell Burnell agrees that it is worth persisting with. “If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting,†she says.

[iNeo 0]

If it really is a signal from aliens, I wonder if their planet's current population know about this 1000 years old contact attempt. And if we were to respond, it'd be like an unknown contact for them like it was for us. And if they respond to that, the people on Earth in 1000 years will probably see that respones as an unknown contact...

[mr burns 132]

i wonder if thishas something to do with my headset problem.

the last time i when used it everytime i pushed the talk button my speakers made that really weird noise.. .sounded like the stuff from independence day, just more intense

[theavonlady 2]

At the end they'll discover it was a cellphone takeout order that went astray.

[der bastler 0]

At the end they'll discover it was a cellphone takeout order that went astray.

Right, imo this listen-to-the-universe program can be compared with someone located at a rock concert trying to listen to the radio in his house on the other side of the city...

It's more likely some neighbour aliens come over and demand to stop that loud EM noise we produce...

[Pathy 0]

I remember one of these years back....turned out it was the Mircowave in the stations canteen, everytime somone had a pot noodle, they thought they were picking up signals from a distant universe

[denoir 0]

Astronomers deny ET signal report [bBC]

Quote[/b] ]

Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal from ET.

It was reported on the internet that the signal had been found using the Seti@home screensaver that uses computer downtime to analyse sky data from telescopes. But researchers connected with the project told BBC News Online on Thursday that no contact with extraterrestrials had been made.

"It's all hype and noise," said its chief scientist, Dr Dan Wertheimer. "We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion."

And Dr Paul Horowitz, of Harvard University, who specialises in hunting for possible alien contacts added: "It's not much of anything at all. We're not investigating it further."

Not a signal

For six years, the Seti@home project has used a downloadable screensaver on millions of computers around the world to sift through data for anything unusual.

The data has been collected by radio telescopes scanning the sky for any unusual signals from space. It is believed that any extraterrestrial intelligence might want to send radio messages across the cosmos to make contact with other intelligences.

Over the years, Seti@home has detected many hundreds of thousands of spurious signals and has used statistical techniques to identify them as interference. About 150 signals survived the process and were subjected to further scrutiny but none passed the final test to be classed as a potential signal from ET.

Large numbers

The "signal" that kicked off furious media excitement on Thursday is called SHGb02+14a and was first detected by computers running Seti@home software in Germany and the US.

It has a frequency of 1420 megahertz - one of the principal frequencies of the most abundant element hydrogen. Speaking to BBC News Online from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, where he is preparing an observing run to follow up Seti@home analysis, Dr Wertheimer said: "It's all hype. We don't have anything we are excited about.

"At the moment, we have no candidates that we are particularly excited about and the new 'signal' is not a priority."

He continued: "With Seti@home having analysed some 50 trillion frequency bands, it is not surprising that a signal like this occurs purely due to chance." Dr Horowitz, who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes, told BBC News Online that it was "not new and definitely not a signal".

[Pathy 0]

Its a conspiracy!!!!

[kegetys 2]

I remember one of these years back....turned out it was the Mircowave in the stations canteen, everytime somone had a pot noodle, they thought they were picking up signals from a distant universe  

Today, as far as I know, they use the doppler effect to separate earth-originating signals from others (Everything on earth spins along earth and therefore the signal frequency of earthbound transmitters go up/down predictably, which can be used to separate them).

[denoir 0]

Today, as far as I know, they use the doppler effect to separate earth-originating signals from others (Everything on earth spins along earth and therefore the signal frequency of earthbound transmitters go up/down predictably, which can be used to separate them).

I don't think so. A varying doppler shift occurs only if the velocity of the source has changed relative the receiver.

Because of the relative motion, the percieved wavelength is changed. If the source is moving away from the receiver the wavelength seems longer (redshift) while if the source is coming closer, the wavelength seems shorter (blueshift).

For singals originating from fixed positions on earth or in geosynchronous earth orbit, the distance between the source and observer is fixed and hence also the relative velocity --> no doppler shift.

[kegetys 2]

For singals originating from fixed positions on earth or in geosynchronous earth orbit, the distance between the source and observer is fixed and hence also the relative velocity --> no doppler shift.

Ah, of course... though then its maybe just the other way around, you'll know the signal is not coming from earth if there is a doppler shift effect in it.

[BoweryBaker 0]

I believe for now that we are alone in the universe. If we're not, its really going to be one hell of a shock to the worlds religions, disregarding the religions that actually believe in aliens from other planets. Then people will mainly look at the bible as a ...moral rulebook and disregard much of its mystery.

[korax 4]

I believe for now that we are alone in the universe.  If we're not, its really going to be one hell of a shock to the worlds religions, disregarding the religions that actually believe in aliens from other planets.  Then people will mainly look at the bible as a ...moral rulebook and disregard much of its mystery.

I highly doubt we're the only thing living in the universe. there must be something out there whether its a plant or some big ol dinosaur, and having life intelligent/more intelligent then us is even more unlikely, but not impossible. But us actually making contact with this life? now THATS impossible.

[Colossus 2]

Let's just hope that it is Elvis coming back home

EDIT: But I do belive that we are not totaly alone.

It's many milions of galaxies, what is the chance that we are the only one that exist? But will never gone find that out, do we?

[Akira 0]

Only reason people care to believe that we are the only one's is psuedo-religious, being that human thought today, whether we like it or not, is driven by the religions of the past (ie Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc) that all believe in a creationist beginning.

If there is other life in the universe, then what makes us so unique, in as far as, God made us.

The answer is "We ain't."

[Akira 0]

Today, as far as I know, they use the doppler effect to separate earth-originating signals from others (Everything on earth spins along earth and therefore the signal frequency of earthbound transmitters go up/down predictably, which can be used to separate them).

I don't think so. A varying doppler shift occurs only if the velocity of the source has changed relative the receiver.

Because of the relative motion, the percieved wavelength is changed. If the source is moving away from the receiver the wavelength seems longer (redshift) while if the source is coming closer, the wavelength seems shorter (blueshift).

For singals originating from fixed positions on earth or in geosynchronous earth orbit, the distance between the source and observer is fixed and hence also the relative velocity --> no doppler shift.

Actually as far as I know, there can be a doppler shift.

The radio telescopes do not recieve the rogue Earth signals directly from the source. They are recieved by bouncing off satillites, the Moon, the atmospere, etc. so indeed there is a shift of some sort.

Being as I'm not a radio astronomer, I of course, can not tell you exactly how they seperate signals, though I am sure the programs looks for certain wavelengths and signal strengths.

[denoir 0]

That's a good point. Signals bounced of the moon and from non-geostationary satellites should have a doppler shift.

Then again, it might not provide too much useful information, unless you have a list of known frequencies. There is no way of telling if a signal has been doppler shifted or if it is in its natural frequency - if you don't know its point of origin and original frequency.

[InqWiper 0]

Quote[/b] ]I believe for now that we are alone in the universe. If we're not, its really going to be one hell of a shock to the worlds religions, disregarding the religions that actually believe in aliens from other planets. Then people will mainly look at the bible as a ...moral rulebook and disregard much of its mystery.

I strongly belive that there is more life in the universe than on earth. There was a time when the church didnt want to accept the fact that the earth is not the center of the universe. People are still religious and they will still be if we find other life in the universe. Some people even still belive the earth is flat.

If people can kill for theire religion which tells them they are not supposed to kill people then there will allways be religious people.

[FSPilot 0]

Pssh, they don't even bother to correct their transmission frequency for their planetary rotation? Why bother contacting them, lets wait for some intelligent life forms.

(sarcasm meter: 10)

[Phleep 0]

What's with all this Hertz per second business!? Would have thought NS was beyond this. Unless it is meant to be a sort of accelerating frequency change?!?

PS: !?!?

[DarkLight 0]

I believe for now that we are alone in the universe.  If we're not, its really going to be one hell of a shock to the worlds religions, disregarding the religions that actually believe in aliens from other planets.  Then people will mainly look at the bible as a ...moral rulebook and disregard much of its mystery.

The universe is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge...

Look up some information, we as humans are able to see just a part of the universe.  We have no clue what's beyond that...  At a certain point, our knowledge stops... we simply don't know what is behind that border.  That border is billions and billions and biiiiillions of lightyears away from us.

Do you have any idea how much that is?

Our solar system is NOTHING in the whole universe...

I find this "God made us" thing funny, we are NOTHING compared to the rest of the universe... just a tiny tiny tiny tiiiiiny tiny tiiiiiny tiny tiny tiny tiny....piece of dust.

Why the hell create such a huuuuuuuuge thing if the only thing you put in it is one planet with some humans.

That's bullshit.

I think that if there IS god, then a) he would've made everything a bit smaller

b) He would at least have made other interesting, living things out there.

Why else would he make such a goddamn big thing with other planets, stars, etc.

Oh well, i don't believe in a god, i hate pretty much every religion but i will always respect the ppl that believe in it as long as they respect me...

Anyway, the chance that there is life out there is pretty big if you ask me.  

The only problem is that when you think about life you think about little green men with glowing fingers.  That's possible, but we might already have discovered new forms of life out there without even realizing it...

Our solar system isn't unique at all... There are billions and billions and billions of solar systems out there.  Each one with his own planets, stars, etc

Seriously, our solar system is nothing special at all...

There are "clones" all over the universe...

[Apollo 0]

There is actually a very big chance that there are other lifeforms in the universe.

The universe is so immensly hughe ,that even if life on a planet happen only on 1 for every 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

0000000000000000000000000000000 planets then there are still billions of inhabited planets out there.

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

If ET's are going leave messages for us i think its more likely to be for anyone else finding us....

[FSPilot 0]

So thats whats on the other side!

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

Quote[/b] ]I believe for now that we are alone in the universe. If we're not, its really going to be one hell of a shock to the worlds religions, disregarding the religions that actually believe in aliens from other planets.

I'm not sure if all (the major) religions state that..