Since the 60s of the last century, scientists from around the world have been listening to signals that come from outer space in order to catch at least some message from an extraterrestrial civilization. Now there are about 5 million volunteers participating in the Seti @ home project and trying to decipher the billions of radio frequencies that are constantly fixed in the Universe. This was made possible thanks to a specially designed program that is installed on home computers. All information collected from the most powerful radio telescopes goes via the Internet directly to the processors.
Very first signal
In mid-August 1977, a truly incredible event happened. Dr. Jerry Aiman of Ohio State University, who worked on the SETI radio telescope called the Big Ear, received a signal from space. It turned out to be quite strong and long-lasting, all of its parameters indicated that it was of artificial origin. Shocked by the sensational data, the American exclaimed: “Wow! Signal »This is exactly what they began to call the caught signal from space in the future.
More than 35 years have passed, and his secret, unfortunately, has not yet been disclosed. Scientists have not given any intelligible explanation for its occurrence. Astronomers have no assumptions about the natural nature of the source of this signal. Therefore, there are enough people who are inclined to believe that he was sent from an alien ship.
This version is also supported by the fact that the signal from space (1977) came from the area where the constellation Sagittarius is located , but from an empty part of the sky. It should be noted that no other explanation has been given after so many years.
Description of “Wow! Signal »
The strength of this signal exceeded the background by 30 times. Its frequency was 1.42 GHz, which corresponds to hydrogen. It was on it that scientists waited and are still waiting for at least some messages from extraterrestrial civilizations. This signal lasted 72 seconds - it should have possessed the same amplitude if it had artificial origin. The fact is that the Big Ear antenna is stationary and uses the rotation of our planet to scan the sky. Therefore, a possible signal source can be listened to for only 72 seconds. Of these, almost half the time it gradually grows, while the telescope is aiming at the source. Then the remaining 36 seconds, the signal from space gradually decreases. This is precisely what was recorded by the Big Ear radio telescope.
Benford Version
I must say that the use of the social network Twitter to compose a message to the alien “brothers in mind” looks symbolic against the background of innovative ideas expressed by scientists involved in the SETI project. Gregory and James Benford - researchers from the University of California - believe that similar Twitter is on other planets.
The present principle of the search for other civilizations is based on the fact that the "brothers" also continuously send signals to space. But to send them far enough, it will require tremendous energy costs, which is an unforgivable waste. Therefore, Benford believes that aliens can send their signal from space in the form of a short message, similar to the one that people leave on Twitter. According to these scientists, mankind could simply miss a large number of such signals or catch them purely by accident, as happened with “Wow! Signal. "
Warning
It is worth noting that not all scientists enthusiastically perceive the attempts of their colleagues to contact alien civilizations. For example, Stephen Hawking - a famous British astrophysicist - is very disapproving of this idea. According to him, humanity needs to sit quietly and not attract too much attention from aliens. He believes that the appearance of “brothers in mind” will be similar to the presence of Christopher Columbus on the American continent. And, as you know, for the Indians it ended very badly.
Stephen Hawking believes that alien races can live on the sides of huge ships, as they have already exhausted the natural resources of their planets. Therefore, they may have a desire to rob the Earth. It is believed that aliens are now at a higher level of development than humanity, and they have the ability to wander in the universe in order to capture any suitable planet for them.
Signal 2010
In early September 1977, a spacecraft called Voyager 1 launched from the territory of the United States (Cape Canaveral) . A little later, another one went after him - his twin brother. The program, of which these devices were a part, was intended to explore giant planets located far from the Earth. According to the plan, the first of them was to visit Saturn and Jupiter, and the second - Neptune and Uranus. In addition, using the devices it was supposed to study the satellites of the planets, their physical characteristics, as well as take pictures at close range.
On board both Voyagers was a message for aliens recorded on a gold plate. It contained a greeting in different languages, children's laughter and crying, various sounds of nature, etc. All this was intended to help our alien "brothers" understand what our Earth is.
For more than 30 years, spacecraft flew in the Universe and did not transmit anything but the beat of their own electronic heart. But at the end of April 2010, a grandiose event took place - Voyager 2 sent a signal from outer space, which it managed to receive. He followed from that part of the Universe, about which the inhabitants of our planet still do not know anything.
Reporting this was a real sensation. Because of this, scientists were divided into two camps. Some are sure that this signal is a manifestation of hitherto unknown laws of outer space, while others consider it a response from "brothers in mind."
Now the mission of the Voyagers has already been completed, and they have gone beyond the limits of the solar system. NASA employees tend to explain strange signals from space that their spacecraft have expired, and they simply went down. In addition, they flew into such a remote space, where other laws of physics, completely unknown to our scientists, may apply.
New signal
NASA experts along with the European Space Research Agency in the middle of last year made another sensational statement. They reported that they caught a signal from space that came from the area where the constellation Perseus is located. I must say that the distance between these celestial objects and our planet is about 240 million light years.
According to scientists, the signal is an intense pulse, which is in the range of x-ray waves. It has not yet been possible to establish its source, but it has been suggested that it may come from some “sterile neutrinos” that are the foundation for the emergence of the so-called dark matter. According to the theory popular in academia, it occupies approximately 85% of the entire Universe, although the fact of its existence has not been scientifically proven. NASA assured that the mysterious signal from space in 2014 will still be studied in order to establish its source.