Astronomers detect a potential artificial radio signal from a nearby star


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In 2015, billionaire Yuri Milner launched the Breakthrough Leasing Project, an attempt to scan millions of nearby stars for radio signals that could indicate intelligent life. Astronomers working on the project have announced the discovery of such a signal from Proxima Centauri, which is only 4.2 light years away. We do not yet know what this sign is, but there is a (very) small chance that it may have an alien origin.

Breakthrough leasing uses radio telescopes such as the Parks Telescope in Australia or the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. These devices regularly record what looks like signals from space but are actually due to the local interference of the Earth. In April and May 2019, the team caught something different – a narrow beam transmission around 980MHz that lasted 30 hours. The dub signal called BLC1 also changed in such a way that it could come from a planet orbiting a star.

The team is still preparing a paper that the scientific community can investigate, but here are some reasons to be excited. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our solar system, and in 2016 researchers announced the discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a habitable zone. Later, astronomers discovered another large planet in the Solar System. Therefore, it is theoretically possible that one of these planetary life is in a particularly habitable zone.

Used by Greenbank Telescope, Breakthrough Listen.

However, it is still too early to start celebrating the discovery of alien life. BLC is 1A Candidate The signal that needs to be analyzed, and if we are to be real, it is doubtful that intelligent aliens live on the next solar system. The galaxy has an estimated 300 million exoplanets and is about 14 billion years old. It would be very impossible for us to find other intelligent species that existed at that time just like a few light years ago. If it is said that aliens are also using radio frequency technology at the same time, it is a big coincidence.

This is not the first signal that can be interpreted as meaning being of artificial origin. Another example is the famous “Wow” signal found in 1977 by SET researchers. Not out of it, but BLC could be the first serious contender in 1 decade. If this is not the case, well, there are many more stars. The only way we can find them is to find them.

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