Okay, so it’s not quite April 5, 2063 just yet, but . . .
LONDON (Reuters) – An unexplained radio signal from deep space could — just might be — contact from an alien civilization, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday.
The signal, coming from a point between the Pisces and Aries
constellations, has been picked up three times by a telescope in Puerto Rico.
New Scientist said the signal could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon or even be a by-product from the telescope itself.
But the mystery beam has excited astronomers across the world.
“If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get
exciting,” Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath in western
England told the magazine.
It was broadcast on the main frequency at which the universe’s most common element, hydrogen, absorbs and emits energy, and which astronomers say is the most likely means by which aliens would advertise their presence.
The potentially extraterrestrial signals were picked up through the
SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through the huge amount of data picked up by the telescope.
Linky
My whole life, I have hoped that we would look to the stars, and find undeniable proof that we are not alone in the universe. Could this be it?
Update: Aw, dammit. As synchronicity points out in comments, probably not:
A recent (September 1) article in New Scientist magazine, entitled ? Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away,? implies that the UC Berkeley SETI@home project has uncovered a very convincing candidate signal that might be the first strong evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Alas, this story is misleading. According to Dan Werthimer, who heads up the UC Berkeley SERENDIP SETI project, this is a case of a reporter failing to understand the workings of their search. He says that misquotes and statements taken out of context give the impression that his team is exceptionally impressed with one of the many candidate signals, SHGb02+14a, uncovered using the popular SETI@home software. They are not.
Well, I still say we are not alone. So there. Nyah.
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Well, I sure hope that there’s someone out there. It’ll make my job at NASA even more exciting! Although, I do worry that the Air Force would end up getting all the fun.
Still, I will keep running the SETI client on my Mac at work and keep hoping. So far I’ve logged almost 1000 results!
Thanks for the fun entry, Wil.
Melissa (NASA GRC)
Hey Wil,
Thanks for this post. For 30 seconds you had me more excited than I’ve been in the last few days, which is slightly scary because today is my 25th birthday and I’ve been counting down for the last week.
I agree with your nyah. Sometimes I get this feeling that someone out there is looking down, pointing, and laughing. Prime Directive…?
Anyway, have a great Labor Day weekend!
Nicole =)
Oh! P.S. When and where is your next stop on the book tour? Or where can I find the info? I’m moving to the East Coast in December and just discovered your books, so I’d really like to see you read before I’m gone!
phriedom: The rest of the story is currently stuck in my iBook, which currently remains in a coma. As soon as I can get the stuff out of that machine, I’ll publish it.
The good news is, I recently did an interview for a poker website, and it should be up soon.
An article in my local newspaper (Puerto Rico) says they are makina big deal out of nothing. Seth Shospak, senior astronomer of the SETI program told the newspaper that this is nothing new. “We always have a list of signals that are candidates which we check once in a while and that has been done for years. But them (SETI@Home) have turned this into a news story, this is a non-story, it’s not something new.”
Damnit, Will! Paste the UPDATE in BEFORE you get my hopes up with news like that! 🙂
Have to admit, however, it lightened the mood for this week after the massive fertilizer fest in NYC and gave me some hope that there are still a few good things (I mean BESIDES WWDN!) going on in the Universe.
I’m definitely with you on the last sentence. Double-nyah!
Well, I’m doing my part. I work for SETI. 🙂
I definately agree that there is other life in the universe. It just doen’t make sense to me for there not to be.
This was the first place i heard this news god only knows how i was able to miss this in the press here in the UK still even if it is a possible glitch in the telescope i still think we are not alone in the universe. There could even be aliens already on the planet for all we know
Please Wil:
Go to http://www.livejournal.com
search ‘communities’ for wilwheatonfans
The first post is an amazing read. Check comments after reading it. Wesley is loved and so are you.
I’ve been working in Astronomy for about 13 years, and teaching a university course on Astrobiology for 4 years. This is a VERY complex issue. Even given the infinite number of likely places for life to exist, the odds may be stacked against us (consider the terms in something called the Drake Equation). Basically, it is a tool for thinking about the different factors involved in estimating the number of technological civilizations in the Universe. I know the terms are totally arbitrary, so you can really get any number you like, but it doesn’t take much pessimism to get very small numbers.
My favorite quote on this topic comes from Arthur C. Clarke:
“Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe,
and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case
the idea is quite staggering.”
Wil,
We are definitely not alone in the universe. In our galaxy alone there are klingons, vulcans, romulans, cardassians, ferengi, trills, bajorans,
betazoids, the borg, the Q, to name just a few.
Data could give you an exact number if you are interested.
Freeman 🙂
Hey Cody Harrell,
Do the words “restraining order” mean anything to you? You might want to increase the Lithium.
(and I don’t mean DiLithium)
Gil
As Terrence McKenna once said: “To search expectantly for a radio signal from an extraterrestrial source is probably as culture-bound a presumption as to search the galaxy for a good Italian restaurant.”
As I say, it would be sheer folly to consider the size of the universe and to think that our planet is the only one with life on it. I don’t know about meeting another self-aware race, but one can keep hoping.
I would like to meet a super intelligent shade of blue.
Misleading?? Do I smell another It-was-a-weather-balloon incident? Exploring the unknown, searching for ET, the final frontier…the mission of Star Trek, that’s what attracted me to Star Trek and the potential the lies within our life time.
Hi Wil,
The idea of someone else “out there” is achingly haunting. It would be good to know there is other life; hopefully, less violent than human form, perhaps more intelligent, but, maybe not. Perhaps we are the older ones. Perhaps the drift of frequency is due not to planet movement but something that moves faster, like a satellite or spaceship maintaining gravity (who knows how much)on it’s maiden voyage. Perhaps it is a youngster who got lucky while “experimenting.” We still do not know the source of this noise; anything is possible. Even an intelligent person at the RNC, though I suspect that finding intelligent life in space has a better chance.
Stay well and keep looking up. 😉
Wouldn’t it be arrogant for us to think that we are alone? I really don’t believe in little green men, but I really don’t think that we can be the only source of intelligent life ever…
…there has to be someone, somebody, or something out there…
I feel like renting “Contact” starring Jodie Foster now, or making a sculpture of Devil’s Tower out of mashed potatoes. 🙂
That’s funny since I just watched Star Trek “First Contact” for like the zillionith time!
Well, so why isn’t everyone doing their part? I’m a part of the SETI@Home project. My screen saver goes through mounds of data everytime the screen saver turns on. I’m a strong supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life. So with the screen saver, I’m participating and helping to find them little green critters! 🙂 How about you?
Here’s the link:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html
Good luck!
May The Force Be With You!
Live Long and Prosper!
Scott
That’s funny since I just watched Star Trek “First Contact” for like the zillionith time!
Well, so why isn’t everyone doing their part? I’m a part of the SETI@Home project. My screen saver goes through mounds of data everytime the screen saver turns on. I’m a strong supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life. So with the screen saver, I’m participating and helping to find them little green critters! 🙂 How about you?
Here’s the link:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html
Good luck!
May The Force Be With You!
Live Long and Prosper!
Scott
That’s funny since I just watched Star Trek “First Contact” for like the zillionith time!
Well, so why isn’t everyone doing their part? I’m a part of the SETI@Home project. My screen saver goes through mounds of data everytime the screen saver turns on. I’m a strong supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life. So with the screen saver, I’m participating and helping to find them little green critters! 🙂 How about you?
Here’s the link:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html
Good luck!
May The Force Be With You!
Live Long and Prosper!
Scott
That’s funny since I just watched Star Trek “First Contact” for like the zillionith time!
Well, so why isn’t everyone doing their part? I’m a part of the SETI@Home project. My screen saver goes through mounds of data everytime the screen saver turns on. I’m a strong supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life. So with the screen saver, I’m participating and helping to find them little green critters! 🙂 How about you?
Here’s the link:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html
Good luck!
May The Force Be With You!
Live Long and Prosper!
Scott
That’s funny since I just watched Star Trek “First Contact” for like the zillionith time!
Well, so why isn’t everyone doing their part? I’m a part of the SETI@Home project. My screen saver goes through mounds of data everytime the screen saver turns on. I’m a strong supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life. So with the screen saver, I’m participating and helping to find them little green critters! 🙂 How about you?
Here’s the link:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html
Good luck!
May The Force Be With You!
Live Long and Prosper!
Scott
“Wouldn’t it be arrogant for us to think that we are alone?”
Probably. But isn’t it just as arrogant to assume that, if alien civilizations do exist, they’re using standard radio waves to communicate? That’s like assuming that they drive diesel trucks or cook with microwave ovens. We may not be the only ones out there, but I’d wager we’re the only ones using H.A.M. radios.
For all their talk of Mankind’s age-old dreams, SETI seem to be demonstrating a lack of imagination. Alien radio waves? We might as well be looking for alien VHS tapes. We would likely benefit by widening our scope in terms of what we’re looking for, rather than projecting one of our own technologies (a technology that’s barely 100 years old and is already on its way to becoming obsolete) onto alien worlds where, I’m assuming, Alexander Graham Bell never lived and Verizon Wireless never set up shop.
I have to agree with Frank B.’s last comment.. it is rather foolish to think that they would communicate in a similar form as we would.. I guess right now though it may be all we have.. I don’t know.
Scott T. – We have a Seti at home group already…
http://setiathome2.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_139438.html
Everyone is welcome to join us. 😉
This is in reply to Frank B. Obviously the means of communication that we’re looking for would need to pass through the vacuum of space…. and electromagnetic radiation is the only thing that we have which will reliably travel through a vacuum. (Contrast with sound waves or simple probes carrying physical data.) Obviously there might be other ways of doing this (maybe using gravity to communicate, or by creating sets of “entwined” particles which we’re only beginning to be able to do in labs, and it’s really exciting because it seems to offer faster-than-light communications) but for now EM is what we’ve got.
Radio waves are basically the long half of the electromagnetic spectrum, and thus are less directional (in fact, basically omnidirectional) and also are essentially able to travel longer distances. Sure, “they” might be using infrared laser beams to send information back and forth between mother ships, but that would require high precision aiming due to the nature of IR (and, therefore, we wouldn’t see any of it here on Earth anyway).
Furthermore, radio waves kind of “come with the territory” when devising electronics. Any simple wire can act as a radio antenna, both a transmitter and a reciever. If you run just about any electric current through it, you’re almost guaranteed to be emitting some sort of radio frequency. Inside your computer case is a virtual hurricane of RF interference. So it’s not like radio is some obscure technology; in fact, it’s a byproduct of pretty much any advanced electronics. Even some stars (quasars and pulsars) put out regular radio-frequency signals (along with vast amounts of other EM radiation such as infrared, x-ray, ultraviolet, and of course visible light).
And radio technology is hardly “on its way to becoming obselete”. How do you think we’re communicating with the Mars rovers, magic? And what do you think your wireless home network is using? (Okay technically it’s a microwave technology, but the line is arbitrary, and some people lump the microwaves in with the radio waves anyway. 2.4GHz in particular is basically right on the border of being in the traditional radio frequency spectrum.)
Lastly, remember the distances involved and the limitation of the speed of light. Any radio signals that we pick up from “out there” could have been transmitted millions of years ago. Obviously there’s no telling what’s happened in the meantime (maybe the aliens’ star has gone supernova — but we won’t know it for another few million years), but presumably every advanced civilization will have gone through some period of technological evolution, and thus will have emitted radio waves at one part of that evolution.
P.S. Wil: your site is taking a long time to load today, and Firefox says “Waiting for wilwheaton.buzznet.com” in the status bar for, like, 30 seconds (sometimes much longer) before showing the whole page. Dunno if it’s just me, but I haven’t experienced this before. And sorry for the long post. 🙂
non sequitur, but here’s a poker story.
http://patrifriedman.com/writing/journal/wsop2k-biggame.html
this kid is milton friedman’s grandson.
when i look at the hubble deep field images, i’m convinced we’re not the only intelligent life there is.
We are alone. There is no proof otherwise, yet. What is interesting is the need for many people to believe there is alien life out there, either because of the mass of UFO culture, bad sci-fi or statistics.
Good science fiction teaches us that the truth is much stranger.
Well that’s typical.
http://www.badastronomy.com
The search is important for two reasons:
1. If we are truly alone, that means that what we have here on Earth is extraordinarily important and we need to do a LOT more to preserve the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. The slaughter of the animals and ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic, is beyond insane!
2. If we are not alone, the preservation of the planet is still important. But we can also benefit from lessons and experiences from species and lifeforms that are likely eons older than we are. History teaches us that we must learn from the past in order to not repeat it in the future. That would be relevant here as well.
Scott
The search is important for two reasons:
1. If we are truly alone, that means that what we have here on Earth is extraordinarily important and we need to do a LOT more to preserve the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. The slaughter of the animals and ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic, is beyond insane!
2. If we are not alone, the preservation of the planet is still important. But we can also benefit from lessons and experiences from species and lifeforms that are likely eons older than we are. History teaches us that we must learn from the past in order to not repeat it in the future. That would be relevant here as well.
Scott
The search is important for two reasons:
1. If we are truly alone, that means that what we have here on Earth is extraordinarily important and we need to do a LOT more to preserve the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. The slaughter of the animals and ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic, is beyond insane!
2. If we are not alone, the preservation of the planet is still important. But we can also benefit from lessons and experiences from species and lifeforms that are likely eons older than we are. History teaches us that we must learn from the past in order to not repeat it in the future. That would be relevant here as well.
Scott
The search is important for two reasons:
1. If we are truly alone, that means that what we have here on Earth is extraordinarily important and we need to do a LOT more to preserve the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. The slaughter of the animals and ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic, is beyond insane!
2. If we are not alone, the preservation of the planet is still important. But we can also benefit from lessons and experiences from species and lifeforms that are likely eons older than we are. History teaches us that we must learn from the past in order to not repeat it in the future. That would be relevant here as well.
Scott
The search is important for two reasons:
1. If we are truly alone, that means that what we have here on Earth is extraordinarily important and we need to do a LOT more to preserve the planet and all it’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. The slaughter of the animals and ecosystems, terrestrial as well as aquatic, is beyond insane!
2. If we are not alone, the preservation of the planet is still important. But we can also benefit from lessons and experiences from species and lifeforms that are likely eons older than we are. History teaches us that we must learn from the past in order to not repeat it in the future. That would be relevant here as well.
Scott
I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned the possibility that *we* are the most technologically advanced lifeforms out there. Maybe *we’ll* be the civilization that disappeared millions of years ago when our radio signal finally reaches some distant solar system and the alien geeks’ computers. =)
I want the secret of the warp bomb, Mr. Cochrane.
I’m surprised that this got as much publicity as it did before the Men in Black suppressed it. They’re getting sloppy, tsk.
And Frank B.: I’m a big fan of McKenna, but that quote makes no sense. There are an assload of Italian restaurants in the universe. Hell, I’m within walking distance of a couple.
OK, the issue is not that life *could* exist in other places, because the laws of physics and chemistry are universal. So given the planets around the billions of stars and the billions of galaxies of stars with planets, there is a very likely chance that life will arise on more than one at some time.
The big issue is: what are the odds that two civilizations will co-exist in the Universe long enough to communitcate wihe each other? What is the lifetime of a civilization? Our radio technology has been around for, what, 60 years or so? If the average technological civilization in the Universe only lasts about a century, we may as well just write everything down, launch it into space and hope somebody someday picks it up and can learn from it. That may be the only inter-civilization communication we’ll ever be able to accomplish.
I also often find myself wondering that if Earth does have the only life in existence, don’t we have a biological imperative to propagate our form of life to other worlds? It sounds hokey, but we could (or maybe should!) be like the “planet seeders” from Trek lore.
I am in total agreement with you. I totally believe that we aren’t alone. A lot of people try to make it religious, saying that God created only us or he would have said otherwise. I am a strong Christian and I would really lot to spit on those people. YES. God never said that they are out there…but he never said they WEREN’T out there either. I believe he left that an open ended questoin on purpose. I don’t think we’re ready to hear the answer quite yet.
…
That’s free. Next soapbox will cost you.
Come on Wil, you have to see that “the cigarette smoking man” had a Glock to Werthimer’s temple when he printed that retraction dis-avowing the legitimacy of the signals!
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