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The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

iflscience.com

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Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#211

Post by ProllyInfamous »

floatrock wrote: post #191
34679 wrote: post #170

I had a theory that it was someone walking across the field with an electronic device, like a flashlight. So I looked up the duration of the signal, size of the field, and average walking pace. It matched perfectly.

There's a story of a famous observatory that, iirc, kept on seeing really powerful intermittent signals that they couldn't quite hone in on. It seemed everytime they tried to zoom in on the source they couldn't find it again. Signal was quite elusive. They finally traced it to people using the microwave in the break room in a very specific way. Some people liked to open the microwave door before the timer went off. T…

Note: Good enough reason to never just open the microwave to stop heating.

Press `STOP` first, got it.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#212

Post by godelski »

sumtechguy wrote: post #186
firefax wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually briefly worked as a "paranormal investigator" when I was hard up for money --- someone came to me with some satellite photos they felt had evidence of UFOs. I found a scientist who ran said satellites, who explained what seemed odd were artificacts of the instrument, and they were only noticed because they occured in the area of the Nimitz[1], which then got heavily OSINTed by the woo woo crowd. I never to…

One guy I know had one of those UFO pics. When I saw it I knew instantly it was an iridium flare. I knew it because I was dead set on seeing a good one with several apps on my phone to track them. I showed him exactly where he was standing on a map, the time of day, and which satellite it was and when he could see it again by time/date/location. He had none of that. He became totally mad at me. I was kinda sad as I w…

  > I was kinda sad as I was just wanted to see one good iridium flare of that magnitude.
They are absolutely beautiful! I was lucky enough to once see a meteor (presumably) bounce off the atmosphere. Was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. For an instant (and not any longer) it was almost like day and there was a green ripple that quickly dissipated. Seen nothing like it before or since.

The world is full of amazing and beautiful phenomena. Many of which also contain deep mysteries. It is a shame that people like that are so set on having answers that they prevent themselves from being part of such rewarding a rewarding journey. I guess it happens a lot even to normal people too. Even if the answer they are so set on isn't half as fantastical.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#213

Post by munchler »

rimeice wrote: post #180

“six millennia“ doesn’t seem that long on the scale of the universe

The claim is that humans would have to monitor for six millennia to detect a signal like this as a result of random interference/noise. The implication is that the signal is probably real, since humans have been monitoring for much less than 6000 years.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#214

Post by smus »

lnsru wrote: post #179
protocolture wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Alternatively, advanced megaprojects are only achievable through sophisticated large-scale cooperation. Alternatively, megastructures are only achievable through massive amounts of low wage workers with terrible working conditions. Consider: Panama canal, most large railroads, Snowy hydro. As time rolls forward we appear to lose our ability to do large things, and in part that's because we are less and less acceptin…

Once I had well paid job at American company in Germany which paid nice salary. Consider Apple’s iPhone. You have it, I have it and it’s a technical mega project. When you do a teardown, there are hundreds of different components. There was dozen engineers working on the smallest part. Hundreds if not more on the processor. Thousands on manufacturing, logistics and retail. These people don’t dig dirt all day long. Bu…

Iphones are created by low wage workers with poor working conditions

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#215

Post by [deleted] »

griffzhowl wrote: post #209
jfengel wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would have to be a very specific kind of device. The "Wow!" signal isn't broad-spectrum noise. It's one specific frequency, and it just happens to be a frequency near one we expect to be used as a signal. Somebody could well have been walking across a field with a 1450 MHz generator. I don't know why; maybe it was a prototype of a portable microwave-oven/Walkman mashup. If so, it was leaky, and perhaps that's why…

> it just happens to be a frequency near one we expect to be used as a signal. What's the reasoning for this? I've seen noted that the Wow signal of 1420 MHz is near the hydrogen line frequency, and is commonly detected astrophysically. So is the reasoning just that, if you want to send a signal, then you might choose this frequency because other civilizations will probably have detectors tuned to it? But then the fl…

[deleted]

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#216

Post by exe34 »

griffzhowl wrote: post #209
jfengel wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would have to be a very specific kind of device. The "Wow!" signal isn't broad-spectrum noise. It's one specific frequency, and it just happens to be a frequency near one we expect to be used as a signal. Somebody could well have been walking across a field with a 1450 MHz generator. I don't know why; maybe it was a prototype of a portable microwave-oven/Walkman mashup. If so, it was leaky, and perhaps that's why…

> it just happens to be a frequency near one we expect to be used as a signal. What's the reasoning for this? I've seen noted that the Wow signal of 1420 MHz is near the hydrogen line frequency, and is commonly detected astrophysically. So is the reasoning just that, if you want to send a signal, then you might choose this frequency because other civilizations will probably have detectors tuned to it? But then the fl…

yes that other 'people' will be listening, no, because you can pulse it with the fibbonaci sequence or prime numbers, which are not easily produced by astrophysical processes.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#218

Post by MisterTea »

34679 wrote: post #170

I had a theory that it was someone walking across the field with an electronic device, like a flashlight. So I looked up the duration of the signal, size of the field, and average walking pace. It matched perfectly.

I doubt a flashlight of that time, a DC device, is going to emit a strong narrow band radio signal in the GHz range.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#220

Post by aaroninsf »

_Likely_ is not up to bearing its load in this title; the actual paper makes no such hyperbolic claim.

Hobby horse:

Hyperbole and false confidence in popular reporting is a blight on any SETI. Coverage of Beatrice Villarroel's paper (and the boosterism of her own collaborators) is an egregious example at the moment.

Avi Loeb has his detractors, but he at least is constant and clear in his intentions, what the data does and does not suggest, and why.

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