62 pointsby firefax4 hours ago8 comments
  • fourthark11 minutes ago
    > Response

    > In 2012, on the 35th anniversary of the Wow! signal, the Arecibo Observatory was said to have beamed a digital stream towards Hipparcos 34511, 33277, and 43587.[45] The transmission consisted of approximately 10,000 Twitter messages solicited for the purpose by the National Geographic Channel, bearing the hashtag "#ChasingUFOs" (a promotion for one of the channel's TV series).[46] The sponsor also included a series of video vignettes featuring verbal messages from various celebrities.

    What an inane, embarrassing "response", if the original was any attempt to communicate. (Sounds like it probably was not, but still...)

    • SoftTalker2 minutes ago
      Who's to say that the original message was any less ridiculous?
  • wewewedxfgdfan hour ago
    I simply do not believe that the WOW signal mean anything at all.

    I'm reminded of the exciting signal at Parkes Observatory that turned out to be the microwave oven making an astronomers lunch.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(astronomy)

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/scientists-discover-s...

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-ov...

    If all the modern sophisticated alien signal has detected zero then we really have to stop obsessing about the wow signal from 1977.

    • nmg17 minutes ago
      > The precise location in the sky where the signal apparently originated is uncertain due to the design of the Big Ear telescope, which featured two feed horns, each receiving a beam from slightly different directions, while following Earth's rotation. The Wow! signal was detected in one beam but not in the other[...]

      This part intrigues me, or at least seems like an important piece of the puzzle, ruling out local causes of the signal that would affect both horns.

  • lanstin3 hours ago
    Someone needs to write a book with a story of how this might have happened.
  • ElProlactin39 minutes ago
    Best prank call ever.
  • brcmthrowawayan hour ago
    What was the WoW signal in signal processing terms? Just a strong CW burst? Any modulation?

    Asked differently, if I looked at this signal in an oscilloscope, would it be a perfect sine wave at the hydrogen line frequency?

    That's got to be an alien transmitting that.

  • 3 hours ago
    undefined
  • thataccount3 hours ago
    Ah yes. Used that image on a book I wrote once.