VIVA – Strange radio signal that was once considered a sign of a possible presence alien in a nearby star system, likely from technological equipment man.
On April 29, 2019, astronomers detected a signal emitted to Earth, apparently, from Proxima Centauri — the closest star system to the Sun and home to at least one potentially habitable planet.
Because the signal falls into the narrow band of 982 MHz radio waves rarely made by human planes or satellites, the researchers interpreted it as a possible sign of alien technology.
However, the signal — which lasted for about five hours — never reappeared during subsequent Proxima Centauri scans. The reason, according to two new studies published October 25, 2021 in the journal Nature Astronomy, is likely because the signal didn’t come from Proxima Centauri at all.
“It was man-made radio interference from some technology, maybe on the Earth’s surface,” said Sofia Sheikh, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, United States (US), according to the website. Live Science, Thursday, October 28, 2021.
In the first of two new studies, Sheikh and his colleagues described the signal – dubbed BLC1 – in detail. Astronomers captured five hours of radio waves with the Parkes Murriyang radio telescope in southeastern Australia during the 26-hour Proxima Centauri survey.
The survey is part of a $100 million alien hunting program called Breakthrough Listen, which uses telescopes around the world to listen for possible transmissions from beyond Earth.
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