Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Last week we distributed a press release announcing the Planetary Habitability Laboratory’s new collaboration with other observatories to study the red dwarf stars Barnard’s Star and Ross 128. We wanted to observe Barnard’s Star because it is a nearby star that might have planets and is currently being observed by the Red Dots project. We also wanted to observe, again, Ross 128 because in our previous observing campaign performed in May 2017 using the Arecibo Observatory we detected some peculiar signals from this star. Our project using the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s most active and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, was originally aimed at searching for radio emissions from red dwarf stars intended to understand their stellar activity and any star-planet interactions.
Our follow-up observations of Ross 128 got much more attention from the press than we expected, although not necessarily for the right reasons. Based on our observations, we proposed three main explanations for the source of the strange signals from the star: (1) unusual stellar activity, (2) emissions from other background objects, or (3) interference from satellite communications.
Each of these potential solutions has its own problems, and so the mystery here was that we were not able to accurately distinguish between these working hypotheses. There were other less likely possibilities, such as ground radio interference, data processing errors, among several others.
However, many people were more interested in the signals as potential proof of transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligent civilization. Statistically, this is always the last consideration, not because such civilizations are impossible, we humans are an example, but because other possibilities had frequently arisen and no extraterrestrial civilizations have been detected yet. Nevertheless, scientists need to be open to all possibilities and explore them. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a field of research that is part of astrobiology, and as such pursues finding signatures of life elsewhere in the galaxy. The SETI Berkeley Research Center at the University of California, and the SETI Institute are experts in this field.
The Weird! Signal - Planetary Habitability Laboratory @ UPR Arecibo
That's almost depressing for a multitude of reasons. The first is the rush to consider it proof of transmissions.
Followed by.........are you sure? I have a lot of people that I am pretty sure need to get back to their own planet and get off mine.
Our follow-up observations of Ross 128 got much more attention from the press than we expected, although not necessarily for the right reasons. Based on our observations, we proposed three main explanations for the source of the strange signals from the star: (1) unusual stellar activity, (2) emissions from other background objects, or (3) interference from satellite communications.
Each of these potential solutions has its own problems, and so the mystery here was that we were not able to accurately distinguish between these working hypotheses. There were other less likely possibilities, such as ground radio interference, data processing errors, among several others.
However, many people were more interested in the signals as potential proof of transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligent civilization. Statistically, this is always the last consideration, not because such civilizations are impossible, we humans are an example, but because other possibilities had frequently arisen and no extraterrestrial civilizations have been detected yet. Nevertheless, scientists need to be open to all possibilities and explore them. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a field of research that is part of astrobiology, and as such pursues finding signatures of life elsewhere in the galaxy. The SETI Berkeley Research Center at the University of California, and the SETI Institute are experts in this field.
The Weird! Signal - Planetary Habitability Laboratory @ UPR Arecibo
That's almost depressing for a multitude of reasons. The first is the rush to consider it proof of transmissions.
Followed by.........are you sure? I have a lot of people that I am pretty sure need to get back to their own planet and get off mine.