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One of astronomy ’s grandest riddles may have just gotten even more interesting , according to new research that advise the source of a mysterious signaling that some nickname an " foreign broadcast " may instead have been the result of a unco rare cosmic consequence .
Now sleep with as the " Wow ! signal " after the incredulous expression scrawl by astronomer Jerry Ehman on a printout of scope data , the mysterious transmission was break up up by The Ohio State University ’s Big Ear wireless scope in August 1977 during a routine scan for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence .
“Wow! signal” printout. The comment on the side inspired the event’s name. (Image credit: Big Ear radio observatory and North American Astrophysical Observatory (NAAPO))
For 1 min , 12 seconds that night , Big Ear recorded radio wafture from near the constellation Sagittarius that were 30 times stronger than the screen background hum of deep distance and were transmitted in a unco specific relative frequency of 1,420 megahertz . Hydrogen , the most abundant element in the universe , by nature emits radio waves at this relative frequency , lead some astronomers to thinkalienswould naturally prefer for that frequency to try communicating with Earth .
However , nothing like the Wow ! signal has ever been observe again , andno love rude phenomenonhas been able-bodied to convincingly explain it — perhaps until now .
allot toAbel Méndez , a world astrobiologist and the theater director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico , the bizarre Wow ! signal may really be a fortuitous detection of an extremely vivid flare hit an interstellar swarm of atomic number 1 gas . A dense , magnetic star known as amagnetarwould be the only source able of emit such a strong flare , which would have caused the cold-blooded hydrogen cloud to emit the radiotherapy detected by Big Ear , Méndez and his confrere state in apreprint paperposted to arXiv and submitted to The Astrophysical Journal .
An illustration of a magnetar, a highly magnetized neutron star that can spit powerful electromagnetic radiation into space
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" It is a very rare event , " Méndez assure Live Science . " I am still amazed that [ stargazer ] were able-bodied to observe it . "
Méndez and his colleagues arrived at the new hypothesis after they unexpectedly key out eight Wow!-like signals while scouting through archival datum from thenow - defunct Arecibo Observatory . The signals , all of which were narrowband wireless emissions near to the touted 1,420 megahertz frequency , were record by Arecibo between February and May 2020 , and each lasted two to three moment . The fact that there were multiple intriguing signals in just an hour ’s worth of Arecibo ’s data suggests a lifelike origin , and the atomic number 1 cloud , which are common throughout the existence and naturally give off radio wave in the same frequency , are the most likely source , the investigator debate .
The newfound signaling were 50 to 100 times fainter than the original Wow ! signal , but that ’s because they have n’t been illuminated by a magnetar , according to Méndez . " If they got brightened for a few more minutes , it will be the Wow ! signal , " he said . " But for that to happen , you have to have something out of the average . "
That is , something like a magnetar — a dense , highly magnetized husk of a dead virtuoso open of breathe powerful burst of electromagnetic actinotherapy . A radiation beam liberate from a very distant , as - yet - unexplored magnetar would theoretically be knock-down enough to make intervening atomic number 1 cloud glow , Méndez tell . The new study ’s findings suggest Big Ear was serendipitously point at one such magnetar - boom atomic number 1 swarm in 1977 .
An unprecedented phenomenon?
uranologist not involved with the inquiry generally check that the new supposition is very exciting , but they remain questioning of the details .
" I like this creativity,“Michael Garrett , president of the International Academy of Astronautics ' SETI Permanent Committee , who is not associate with the new study , toldScientific American . " But it feels a fleck contrived to me . "
While such a burnished , targeted emission of radio receiver waves from hydrogen gas pedal at the accurate 1,420 megahertz frequence are potential in theory , they have never been observed . to boot , critics say multiple coincidences want to occur simultaneously for the novel work ’s guess to stand true , include Big Ear ’s gaze toward the exceptional atomic number 1 cloud that fall out to be pelt by a magnetar , and the emitted radiation ’s frequency had to match the never - before - observe 1,420 MHz .
" He ’s suggesting a phenomenon that has never been observed,“Jason Wright , a professor of astronomy at Penn State who was not involved with the new field of study , toldScience News . " The set of physical term is extremely delicate and specific , and it ’s not cleared if that ’s even potential . "
The narrowband trait of the Wow ! signal suggests humankind ’s radio interference is the more likely explanation , Yvette Cendes , a radio astronomer at the University of Oregon who was not involve with the Modern field , told Scientific American .
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Forthcoming dives into Arecibo ’s archives by Méndez and his team could shed more light on the specifics of the new explanation . Pinpointing the signals ' locations with foregone conclusion , however , would require gamey - resolving power maps of the patches of the sky that include H cloud . That task is well suitable for the Very Large Array , a meshing of nearly 30 radio dish in New Mexico that work in tandem bicycle like a individual , miles - long scope .
Observation cause that record any changes to the properties of the hydrogen clouds , particularly their brightness , would be valuable in infer the true origins of the mysterious Wow ! signal and its newfound counterparts , Méndez tell .
" Anything at all will be something to think about . "
