The Wow! signal

The biggest question that human kind is seeking answers since ages is ‘are we alone in the universe?’. The quest for search for extraterrestrial intelligent life is endless, the curiosity is immense and research is countless. We have been sending probes, bursting out signals at different directions, yet there is not enough evidence about the presence of intelligent alien life, Out of this endless cosmic space, a signal was detected for 72 sec in 1977 and was never heard since, this was called the WOW! Signal,.

The Wow! Signal was detected using a radio telescope. A radio telescope collects weak radio light waves, amplify them and make it available for analysis, We use them to study planets, black holes, starts and other astronomical objects. These can also be used to transmit radio light of the planetary bodies. The big ear radio telescope was installed in Ohio state university has a massive size probably the size of three football fields. This radio telescope started scanning the sky from 1965 and was in 1970s, it started to listen for alien signals. On August 15^th 1977, during a routine astronomical survey, an unusual signal was detected. An Astronomer named Jerry R. Ehmen, while reviewing the data after a few days detecting the signal, found an anomaly, circled the reading and commented it as Wow!, Thus the name ‘Wow! Signal’. The reading that he circled was ‘ 6EQUJ5’.

The precise location of where the Wow! Signal originated  is not exact. Astronomers believe that the signal might have likely originated from Messier 55 (M55), a globular cluster in Sagittarius constellation.

There are many hypotheses, surrounding the origin of Wow! Signal, This ranges from aliens to military radio to spy satellites to even planets and comets . The problem is that the signal was never heard again. A Florida based professor, Dr. Antonio Paris in 2017, suggested that the wow! Signal might have originated from a comet. This theory was based on the explanation that the comets 266P/Christensen and P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) was passing through the observatory when the Wow! Signal was detected. The signal from these comets matched the Wow! Signal, This theory was dismissed by the original big ear team and many astronomers, stating no comets were seen on that day and comets donot emit signals at strong frequencies.

Several attempts were made to detect the Wow! Signal again but it was never detected. The Wow! Signal was just a small whisper which faded into the cosmic silence, However Wow! Signal is not the last alien signal to be detected, there are many signals that were detected afterwards. With the advancement of scientific knowledge and technology , we will be able to detect many signals with pin point accuracy. It is obvious that one day we might get answer to the burning question  ‘Are we alone in the universe?’


sources:

https://theprint.in/science/42-years-of-wow-signal-our-missed-opportunity-for-alien-contact/277423/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal


https://www.seti.org/