Radio signal is the best possible evidence for extraterrestrial life
The Breakthrough Listen team has been scanning skies for technosignatures – indicators of technology developed by advanced alien civilizations. Prior to their discovery, the team’s effort had been fruitless, as many promising detections turned out to be man-made.
But one signal, labeled Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1 (BLC1), stood out among the several radio signals the researchers picked up while examining data taken using the Parkes Observatory in Australia during a 2019 search for stellar flares from Proxima Centauri. The star has two known planets in orbit: an inhabitable gas giant and an Earth-like rocky planet, called Proxima b, located in the star system’s habitable zone, an orbital region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet.
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Sputnik International
CSIRO/A. Cherney
Astronomers have spotted what may be the strongest candidate yet for an alien signal. Researchers at the Breakthrough Listen project have found an unusual beam of radio light coming from around our nearest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri, according to a report in
The Guardian on 18 December.
Any purported discovery of aliens always has to be taken with scepticism. That is especially true in cases where a signal appears to be a possible technosignature, a sign of alien technology rather than simply life beyond Earth. The Breakthrough Listen team has been extremely cautious about this find. “No one is claiming it’s a technosignature,” tweeted Pete Worden, chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.
Astronomers studying mysterious radio waves, search for life in universe
Narrow beam of radio waves was picked up by Parkes telescope in April and May of last year
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A group of astronomers are studying if we are really alone in the universe after puzzling radio waves were detected in Australia.
The narrow beam of radio waves was picked up by the Parkes telescope in April and May of last year, according to The Guardian.
The report says that scientists believe those radio emissions came from the direction of Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star 4.2 light years from earth, also known as the nearest star to the sun.
What We Know About the Intriguing Radio Signal From Our Neighbour Star
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Artist s conception of Proxima Centauri b and its host star. (Image: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
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Researchers with the Breakthrough Listen project have detected a curious signal originating from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. The signal has been designated as a possible alien transmission, but like so many examples in the past, this latest detection is probably another dead end.