Astronomers from the United States have found a possible explanation for the extraterrestrial signal Wow! It was registered in 1977 and, according to some experts, it could be a message from an alien civilization. The authors published the results of their research in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and briefly reports on them in the New Scientist edition.
Initially, scientists ruled out that other planets, near-earth satellites, asteroids and other bodies of the solar system could be the source of the signal. In a new study, astronomers tried to debunk this point of view. According to them, the source of Wow! there could be comets 266P / Christensen and P / 2008 Y2 (Gibbs), the transit of which was observed in the period from July 27 to August 15, 1977 in the vicinity of the Chi group of the constellation Sagittarius.
Photo: The Ohio State University Radio Observatory and the North American Astrophysical Observatory
The nuclei of each comet are surrounded by huge hydrogen clouds with a radius of several million kilometers. These celestial bodies were discovered after 2005 and were not taken into account when determining the sources of the extraterrestrial signal. Heavenly Source Wow! was in the area of comets. Astronomers believe that the radiation from their clouds could have caused the signal to be recorded.
Not all experts agree with such conclusions. In particular, James Bauer of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena believes that radiation from a comet cloud is generally not observed at a wavelength of 21 centimeters. Astronomers hope to test their hypothesis on January 25, 2017 (during transit 266P / Christensen) and January 7, 2018 (during transit P / 2008 Y2).
Signal Wow! (Russian "Oho!") approximately corresponds to a hydrogen line (with a frequency of about 1420 megahertz and a wavelength of about 21 centimeters). It was recorded on August 15, 1977 by the Ohio State University Big Ear radio telescope and lasted 72 seconds. Scientist Jerry Aiman (who coined the name Wow!) As part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project for the search for extraterrestrial civilizations received a strong narrow-band signal northwest of the globular cluster M55 in the constellation Sagittarius.
Such a powerful signal has never been observed again. Since hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the Universe, and its radiation easily passes through the dense atmosphere of the Earth, some experts thought that Wow! could be a message from aliens.
Promotional video: