Suspicious Signal Spotted In Space -- Three Times

For now, scientists connected with the Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) call it an enigma. But they're certainly leaving open the possibility that the radio signal they're hearing from 1,000 light years away could be artificial -- a radio postcard from another species.

New Scientist Magazine reports the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico has seen this signal three times. Not only that, but it's getting stronger. Researchers are quick to point out that this could simply be a new kind of astronomical phenomenon or even a glitch in the telescope itself. But it appears to be the best candidate yet for a signal from another planet.

"It’s the most interesting signal from SETI@home," said Dan Werthimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home, in an interview with New Scientist. "We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."

Seti@home runs on millions of personal computers as a screen saver. It sifts through the plethora of signals captured by Arecibo.

The suspicious signal has a name and a frequency. It's SHGb02+14a and it's located at roughly 1420 MHz. It emanates from a point between the constellations Aries and Pisces. The problem is, there's nothing in that region closer than 1,000 light years from Earth.

The frequency itself is one of the most common where hydrogen -- the basic element of the universe -- can absorb and transmit energy.

"We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’," UCB researcher Eric Korpela, who completed the analysis of the signal in April, told New Scientist Magazine. "This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant."

On the other hand, Korpela told the magazine, SHGb02+14a doesn't appear to be a naturally occurring signal or interference. Still, that doesn't automatically mean it's ET phoning long distance.

"Perhaps there is an object on the ground near the telescope emitting at about this frequency," Korpela told interviewers. Confirming that would be the easiest part of the entire exercise -- just use a different telescope to listen for the signal.

It could be a hoax, but Korpela doubts it. "As I can’t think of any way to make a signal like this, I can’t think of any way to fake it."

Seti@home director David Anderson is anything but convinced. Still, he's definitely interested. "It’s unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it."

Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath agrees that the signal definitely bears watching. She should know. Her discovery of pulsing radio signals in 1967 first appeared to be hails from another planet. Instead, it turned out that she had made the first-ever sighting of a pulsar.

"If they can see it four, five or six times," she told New Scientist, "it really begins to get exciting."

FMI: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu