The astronomical community is faced with a new radio signal from a nearby star system.
Signal from space
In mid-May last year, the world's largest radio telescope RATAN-600, installed in Karachay-Cherkessia, in the village of Zelenchukskaya, caught a radio signal, apparently coming from a star system called HD 164595. In its center is the star of the same name, located at a distance 95 light-years from the Sun. A team of scientists have been observing the solar system since the signal was received, but no repetitions or anomalies were noticed.
A neighboring civilization?
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At least one known exoplanet, 16 times the mass of the Earth, revolves around the star HD 164595. The planet completes its annual turnover in 40 days, which makes it too hot to form and sustain life. However, the radio signal was strong enough and completely coincides with the characteristics of the artificial signal. The chance it was just a malfunction of the telescope is one in five thousand.
Signal source
This signal is promising, but astronomers are not ready to believe that it comes from an extraterrestrial civilization. There are a number of potential interference that could be responsible for an unexpected radio signal.
Another explanation sees the star HD 164595 as a lens that has amplified or even altered the signal coming from another source. The original sources of the signal itself, in this case, might not be artificial, but natural. The scientific community has more than once mistaken unexplored natural phenomena for artificial ones. For example, pulsating neutron stars called pulsars were initially perceived as sources of artificial radio signals and were called "Little Green Men."
Despite the skeptical attitude of scientists, they will continue to observe the star system HD 164595 in the hope of receiving a second signal.