Scientific American
Alien Hunters Discover Mysterious Signal from Proxima Centauri
Strange radio transmissions appear to be coming from our nearest star system. Now scientists are trying to work out what is sending them
Print
Sixty-four-meter radio telescope at Parkes Observatory in Australia, which detected potential signals from Proxima Centauri last year. Credit: Lisa Maree Williams
It’s never aliens—until it is. On December 18th news leaked in the British newspaper the
Guardian of a mysterious signal coming from the closest star to our own, Proxima Centauri, a star too dim to see from Earth with the naked eye that is nonetheless a cosmic stone’s throw away at just 4.2 light-years. Found this autumn in archival data gathered last year, the signal appears to emanate from the direction of our neighboring star and cannot yet be dismissed as Earth-based interference, raising the very faint prospect that it is a transmission from some form of advanced extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI)—a so-called “technosignature.” Now, speaking to