Contemplating the Jackass in the Year of the Tiger

Researchers have found a signal that could be from alien civilizations; so states a report from China’s science ministry.

According to the report—which has since been redacted by news sources—researchers at the rather prosaically named Beijing Normal University identified “several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the earth.”

The signals were detected, ostensibly, by Sky Eye, the world’s largest, most sensitive single-dish radio telescope. The gargantuan structure, officially known as the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), is built inside a natural basin in the mountains of Guizhou, China.

FAST’s ponderous size precludes it being physically tilted. The telescope’s focal-point can be changed, however, via deformation of its reflective surface. Once oriented on a celestial object or volume of deep-space, FAST detects radiation at electromagnetic wavelengths of up to 10 cm. Among the telescope’s applications is the controversial search for extraterrestrial intelligence—or SETI project.

SETI observations are done primarily in what radio-astronomers call piggy-back mode—which is to say they are taken while the telescope is engaged in orthodox astronomical research.

The method allows researchers to scan vast swaths of space for signs of alien technology—or techno-signatures—without interfering with or preempting what academics and grant-providers consider “legitimate” scientific pursuits.

FAST sifts through enormous amounts of data. The telescope feeds 38-billion samples a second into a cluster of high-performance computers which produce exquisitely detailed charts of incoming radio signals. These charts are pored over for signals that look like techno-signatures.

Cosmologist Zhang Tongjie, chief scientist of China ET Civilization Research Group and inveterate chart-porer asserts that researchers located "several narrow-band electromagnetic signals different from the past.”

However, Tongjie—who’s been called China's Alien Hunter—also said the signals may simply be radio interference.

“The possibility that the suspicious signal is some kind of radio interference is also very high, and it needs to be further confirmed and ruled out. This may be a long process.”  Tongjie said.

In the interim, parties eager for first-contact are urged to temper their enthusiasm.

FMI: www.seti.org