[Reading Science] Did Aliens Really Send That Signal to Earth?

Breakthrough Listen Research Team Fails Again in Searching for Wow Signal

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Scientists searching for the source of the so-called 'Wow signal' to find extraterrestrial intelligent life have recorded another failure.

According to the space-specialized media Space.com on the 8th, the Breakthrough Listen research team of the U.S. Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) recently published a research paper on this topic in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

The Wow signal was discovered on August 15, 1977, by Jerry Ehman in Ohio, USA, while receiving and analyzing radio waves pouring from space using the Big Ear radio telescope as part of the SETI program. A strong artificial radio signal in the 1420 MHz band lasted for 72 seconds before disappearing.

At that time, Ehman wrote the word 'Wow' on the radio log to express surprise, and the signal became widely known as the 'Wow signal.' Since then, many astronomers have mobilized radio telescopes to recapture this signal, but no one has succeeded. There have been criticisms that it might have been a mechanical error, and in 2017, a research paper suggested it was merely natural radio waves emitted from a comet, but no clear conclusion has been reached yet.

Ulsan KVN Radio Telescope

In this study, the research team focused on a Sun-like star about 1800 light-years away in Sagittarius, one of the candidate sources of the Wow signal. On May 21, the Green Bank Telescope and the Allen Telescope Array each conducted two 30-minute and six 5-minute focused observations around the star. However, they did not detect any similar radio signals. This research method is based on the assumption that if extraterrestrial intelligent life exists, it is likely to be on a planet with an environment similar to Earth.

A team member explained, "We plan to use data from the Gaia spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency for mapping the cosmos, to find more Sun-like stars that could emit the Wow signal," adding, "We will expand our search to high-density star regions both at the center and outskirts of our galaxy."