A radio wave, which may be an alien signal, was detected from the nearest star in the solar system, called Proxima Centauri, about 4.2 light years away, and related research is underway.
It is unlikely that this signal will prove to be indicative of the existence of another extraterrestrial technological civilization right next to the solar system, but it is pointed out as the most interesting signal ever captured.
According to foreign press and scientific media outlets, the signal was captured by a research team led by Dr. Andrew Simion of the University of California, Berkeley, who has been conducting ``Intelligent Alien Search'' (SETI) research, and is testing the possibility of a signal from an alien civilization.
The clue was that 982.002MHz of radio wave was found in the process of looking back at the data of Proxima Centauri with a 64m radio telescope at Parks Observatory in Australia from April to May last year.
These frequencies have been assigned for use by satellites or spacecraft, and so far, it has not been known to be naturally occurring.
When radio signals are detected in the SETI study, they are filtered through an automatic test to see if they are generated from Earth, and only those that have passed it undergo a detailed verification process.
Most of them were found to have come from satellites or due to natural phenomena and were eliminated, but none of them have passed as many tests as this time.
In an interview with'Scientific American', Dr. Simion held a cautious position that there are still many parts to be verified, such as it may be a natural phenomenon that has not been identified so far. “At the moment, the only source we know is technology. "I said.
Dr. Simion's research team, who has been working on the'Breakthrough Listen' project to capture communication between intelligent life in space, calls this signal as the first breakthrough listen candidate (BLC1) and writes a thesis with the aim of publishing early next year. As I was preparing, related information came out through the British Guardian.
Breakthrough Listen is underway with a 10-year plan from 2016 with a donation of US$100 million by Yuri Milner, a father from Russia.
The research team identified BLC1 in five observations taken over 30 minutes each.
This confirmed that the radio signal came from Proxima Centauri or a deeper deep space direction.
However, it is pointed out that this signal was not captured by further observations, and it is difficult to interpret it as a technical signal because there is no trace of frequency modulation in which radio waves carry information in a single tone.
Two planets have been discovered so far in the Proxima Centauri planetary system, which has been designated as a source of radio waves, both of which are observed to have a small possibility of life.
Proxima b, discovered in 2016, is in an area where life forms 1.2 times the mass of the Earth and contains liquid water, but it is not an environment in which life can inhabit due to exposure to stellar flares while rotating close to a red dwarf every 11.2 days. .
Proxima c, discovered last year, is also a planet that is 7 times the mass of the Earth, but it is analyzed to be too far away from the stars in an orbit in 5.2 years, which is also unsuitable for life.
(Photo Credit=Daniel John Reardon, Yonhap News)