New Observations of 'Alien' Signal Coming Up Empty Nadia Drake - National Geographic
go to original September 4, 2016

The Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California, looked for the strong radio signal that seemed to be from sunlike star HD 164595. (Ben Margot/Associated Press)

For several days, a curiously energetic radio signal coming from the stellar system HD 164595 had eager Earthlings wondering whether signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life had finally been discovered.

But follow-up observations with some of Earth’s most prolific alien-hunting telescopes have so far turned up empty: Neither the Allen Telescope Array, commanded by the SETI Institute, nor the Green Bank Telescope, used by the Breakthrough Listen project, detected any signs of a tantalizing signal from this distant world.

That’s not necessarily surprising, given the vague and dubious nature of the original signal.

For nearly 60 years, astronomers have aimed radio telescopes at the heavens, hoping to detect the murmurs of faraway civilizations advanced enough to broadcast radio waves into the cosmos. Over those decades, the search has been not exactly comprehensive, a casualty of scarce resources and sporadic telescope time.

Still, the question of whether extraterrestrials exist is so nagging that possible signals are an all-hands-on-deck situation. Any answer will be profound, whether it’s that we’re alone in this vast universe, or that the cosmos is teeming with chatty aliens.

That’s why this signal, which looked like a pronounced spike of radio waves, caught people’s attention.

Read the rest at National Geographic

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