[url]https://phys.org/news/2017-06-wow-mystery-space.html[/url]
[quote]The explanation started to come into focus last year when a team at the CPS suggested that the signal might have come from a hydrogen cloud accompanying a comet—additionally, the movement of the comet would explain why the signal was not seen again.[/quote]
[quote]The team reports that radio signals from 266/P Christensen matched those from the Wow! signal 40 years ago. To verify their results, they tested readings from three other comets, as well, and found similar results. The researchers acknowledge that they cannot say with certainty that the Wow! signal was generated by 266/P Christensen, but they can say with relative assurance that it was generated by a comet.[/quote]
Wow, how boring.
I wanted it to be aliens.
I guess it should be renamed to the "meh" signal now
A bit disappointing, but not exactly unexpected.
I dunno, I think getting a signal from a comet's hydrogen cloud is pretty cool.
[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;52326186]I dunno, I think getting a signal from a comet's hydrogen cloud is pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
hm well based on that i don't think you're very cool
What made it significant? Does it say anything or is it just strong like they say?
[QUOTE=VenomousBeetle;52326219]What made it significant? Does it say anything or is it just strong like they say?[/QUOTE]
[quote]The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal received on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope in the United States, while the telescope was being used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence project. The signal appeared to come from the constellation Sagittarius and bore the expected hallmarks of extraterrestrial origin.
Astronomer Jerry R. Ehman discovered the anomaly a few days later, while reviewing the recorded data. He was so impressed by the result that he circled the reading on the computer printout and wrote the comment Wow! on its side, leading to the event's widely used name.
The Wow! signal was regarded for decades as the strongest candidate for an alien radio transmission. [/quote]
[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;52326186]I dunno, I think getting a signal from a comet's hydrogen cloud is pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
Fukin nerd
Once again NASA has to come up with an outrageous fabrication to maintain control over the sheep
Why would hydrogen comet make signals like that?
[QUOTE=VenomousBeetle;52326219]What made it significant? Does it say anything or is it just strong like they say?[/QUOTE]
It stood out significantly above the background noise, and the telescope that picked it up happened to be specifically looking for extraterrestrial signals, which made people a bit excited.
[QUOTE=Fourier;52326308]Why would hydrogen comet make signals like that?[/QUOTE]
The hydrogen comet was signalling to the mother comet.
:xfiles:
[QUOTE=Fourier;52326308]Why would hydrogen comet make signals like that?[/QUOTE]
The ground state of the hydrogen atom is split into two hyperfine levels due to spin-spin coupling between the electron and nuclear spin. The energy gap between these two levels corresponds to radiation with a frequency of 1420 MHz.
[QUOTE=exhale77;52326206]hm well based on that i don't think you're very cool[/QUOTE]
Hey, my mother thinks I'm cool!
[sp]That's not true at all.[/sp]
[QUOTE=Headhumpy;52326739]The ground state of the hydrogen atom is split into two hyperfine levels due to spin-spin coupling between the electron and nuclear spin. The energy gap between these two levels corresponds to radiation with a frequency of 1420 MHz.[/QUOTE]
Yup, essentially this. If one wanted to send an intelligible signal that didn't have any chance of being produced by natural means you'd transmit on say 4461 MHz (Hydrogen * Pi).
Well that's... supremely disappointing. Even more disappointing than the potential of it being a one-off signal that we never got to return or fully decode or whatever.
[QUOTE=VenomousBeetle;52326219]What made it significant? Does it say anything or is it just strong like they say?[/QUOTE]
Essentially we found a signal from space that was so unlike the background noise that our best explanation at the time was an alien transmission. Yeah, that's how strange it was.
Turns out, according to these researchers at least, that we just caught a glimpse of a rare natural phenomenon. Nobody is surprised; nobody really thought it was aliens to begin with.
Still cool though!
[QUOTE=Judas;52326172]I guess it should be renamed to the "meh" signal now[/QUOTE]
the "wow! it's fucking nothing!" signal
Man, I remember reading about this when I was younger on both WIkipedia and in textbooks. It's really disappointing that it wasn't aliens and just some hydrogen comet.
Oh well, the search continues or maybe we truly are alone in this universe?
Huh i always thought that the wow signal was just some military radio reflected back from atmosphere... If of course this is the Wow signal.
So this is the "Wow" signal you can look but you will find basically the same thing.
[video=youtube;OkycNvrpjCs&t=84s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkycNvrpjCs&t=84s[/video]
Now download that and set higher pitch in some audio editing software.
skip to around 5 minutes
[video=youtube;s9XWMJ4tgts]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XWMJ4tgts[/video]
I have tried this myself and got the same thing.
And what is this is :tinfoil: a cover up!
[QUOTE=FezianEmperor;52328074]Man, I remember reading about this when I was younger on both WIkipedia and in textbooks. It's really disappointing that it wasn't aliens and just some hydrogen comet.
Oh well, the search continues or maybe we truly are alone in this universe?[/QUOTE]
I imagine an interesting scenario where we're receiving transmissions from other civilizations all the time, but there's so damn many of them on top of the background cosmic radiation that we can only interpret it as noise.
Whatever.
We still have the number stations to creep us out.
The constant thought of a possible artificial signal, maybe nights without sleep. And 40 years later you discover it was just a comet.
That has to be demoralizing.
Huh, People thought it was a Russian spy satellite for the longest time.
[QUOTE=Headhumpy;52326739]The ground state of the hydrogen atom is split into two hyperfine levels due to spin-spin coupling between the electron and nuclear spin. The energy gap between these two levels corresponds to radiation with a frequency of 1420 MHz.[/QUOTE]
Also interesting to note, this transition is forbidden and the probability is [i]extremely[/i] small, and the lifetime of the excited state is roughly 10 million years. Under most circumstances, collisions with other atoms will lead to the excited state decaying without emitting any radiation but because space is so vast, the atoms can go long enough without hitting anything else that they have time to undergo spontaneous emission. The overwhelming abundance of hydrogen in the universe also means that the signal is strong enough for us to detect.
[QUOTE=Zick-1957;52328180]Huh i always thought that the wow signal was just some military radio reflected back from atmosphere... If of course this is the Wow signal.
So this is the "Wow" signal you can look but you will find basically the same thing.
[video=youtube;OkycNvrpjCs&t=84s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkycNvrpjCs&t=84s[/video]
Now download that and set higher pitch in some audio editing software.
skip to around 5 minutes
[video=youtube;s9XWMJ4tgts]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XWMJ4tgts[/video]
I have tried this myself and got the same thing.
And what is this is :tinfoil: a cover up![/QUOTE]
...Why was this study even conducted if a simple pitch bend resolves it to military chatter?
There is no audio recording of the signal, that one is a fake.
[QUOTE=Orkel;52339199]There is no audio recording of the signal, that one is a fake.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I was almost positive there was no audio recording of it. Something I've always been bummed about.
There's no audio recording because it lies far, far, far outside the range of frequencies audible to humans. If it was pitched down to be within the audible range, it would sound like a monotonic whine that slowly rose in loudness, then dropped back down.
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