Do We Finally Have an Explanation for the Mysterious 'Wow' Signal Captured in Space in 1977? – Edit

It was the best candidate—if not the only one—for a sign of extraterrestrial origin. On August 15, 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman recorded a signal picked up by the Ohio State University radio telescope that combined many of the expected characteristics of a message from a distant civilization. He was so impressed by the signal—coded “6EQUJ5”—that he wrote “Wow!” in the margin in red, which would later give it its name.

But after forty-seven years, I Research published by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico on August 16 In Arecibo, it comes to undermine this path. The innovative hypothesis put forward in this work is that the “Wow!” signal will be “The first recorded maser flare event.” The result, in short, is a “natural” event.

This hypothesis allows us to explain the three main characteristics that underlie the interest of the “Wow!” signal. First, its intensity. The peak of the signal actually reached thirty times the background noise of the universe. The series of numbers and letters “6EQUJ5” also corresponds to the notation of the signal’s intensity. It is recorded every twelve seconds and is rated from 1 to 9, then from A to Z.

The second interesting element: The signal was broadcast at a frequency very close to the frequency at which a hydrogen atom emits radiation – 1,429.4556 MHz compared to 1,420.405751 MHz. Or more precisely, the frequency at which some astronomers believe it is plausible to receive a message from an extraterrestrial entity, given its ability to pass through interstellar dust, spread throughout the universe, and thus be received by an interlocutor.

Finally, the signal was transmitted over a narrow bandwidth: less than 10 kHz. However, it was recognized that no known natural event was capable of transmitting at such a high frequency over such a narrow band.

astrophysical microwave laser

At least for now. Because the University of Puerto Rico team has pinpointed a signal of natural origin, with the same characteristics. Through the Arecibo Wow! project, the Puerto Rican team observed several targets using a giant telescope between 2017 and 2020. The team announces in its research abstract: “Narrowband signals (10 kHz) were detected near the hydrogen line similar to the Wow signal, although they were twice as intense and at several locations.”

These signals correspond to four recordings observed near a small red dwarf — a small star much cooler than the Sun — called Teegarden’s Star, located 12.5 light-years from Earth. According to the researchers’ analysis, these signals near Teegarden’s Star are associated with interstellar clouds of cold hydrogen. They then hypothesized that a powerful burst of radiation occurred through the cloud of cold hydrogen, stimulating the gas to produce a strong pulse of radiation close to 1420 megahertz, and thus close to the already mentioned “Wow!” frequency. The end result is a natural astrophysical microwave laser, or maser, that provides an intense focus of narrow-band (10 kilohertz) light, similar to the “Wow!” signal.

Other cosmic beings

What about the weaker signal intensity observed by the Puerto Rico team? The researchers say that Teegarden’s red dwarf probably isn’t capable of producing a strong enough glow to produce the intensity of the “Wow!” signal observed. But other cosmic objects, such as neutron stars, might be capable of it.

However, the research has yet to be peer-reviewed by other astronomers, a crucial step in judging the credibility of a study. In 2016, an academic from the Washington Academy of Sciences published an article suggesting that two comets emitting a lot of hydrogen had been discovered in the field of view of the Ohio Telescope in 1977. He then formulated the hypothesis that one of the comets was the source of the “wow!” signal, but after being re-read by his peers, they largely concluded that the “comet thesis” was not credible. So the “maser” hypothesis still needs to be confirmed.