Several years ago it was proposed that the signal might have been caused by comets that were near the observed area of the sky, but this has since been disproven. A scattered signal is possible, but the strength of the signal would be unusual, and the frequency of the Wow Signal is within a range where transmissions are restricted. But a plane wouldn’t be in range for more than 72 seconds, and there is no record of such a flight. The most basic idea is that the signal was of terrestrial origin, perhaps a plane passing overhead, or a radio signal scattered off space debris.
Several natural origins have been proposed, but all of them are a bit lacking. Credit: / NAAPOīut despite having just one observation, the Wow Signal is considered the strongest candidate for an extraterrestrial signal. By the time astronomers could go back to observe the source, the event was long over.Īn aerial view of the Big Ear telescope. Because of this, the signal was only discovered days after the event when recorded observations were reviewed. Astronomers simply set it up, and it would run on its own, recording the strength of signals as it goes. The reason the Wow Signal lasts 72 seconds is because that’s how long it took the source to sweep across Big Ear’s observation range.īig Ear was also a passive telescope. Rather than being able to track radio signals like most modern radio telescopes, Big Ear was set to a particular elevation and relied on Earth’s rotation to scan across the sky. Our knowledge of the signal is limited given the design of Big Ear. Observed on 15 August 1977 by the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio University, the signal was a strong, continuous, narrow band radio signal lasting at least 72 seconds. Perhaps the greatest of these is known as the Wow Signal.
There have, however, been a few tantalizing mysteries. In the decades-long search for extraterrestrial intelligence, there has never been confirmed evidence of an alien signal.
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