In the fall of 1959 the journal Nature published the first research article on the features expected in a potential communication message from other rational creatures in distant galaxies, titled "The Search for Interstellar Communication."

What are these features and characteristics?

Did a message arrive to Earth from outer space, matching these characteristics?

The research article - written by Josep Coccone and Philip Morrison, professors of physics at Cornell University in New York - mentioned very specific features of the potential communication messages that an intelligent civilization would send to attract the attention of another intelligent civilization from outer space, and one of these features is the use of radiation or radio frequency transmission because it is relatively cheap and easy production, and travel extremely vast distances with little energy.

On August 15, 1977, a signal arrived from outer space, which was received by the Big Ear Observatory (Big Ear Observatory website).

A special astronomical number

When selecting the broadcast frequency, this intelligent civilization will choose a frequency that indicates a distinct astronomical number.

Morrison and Cocconi estimated that this intelligent civilization would choose a frequency associated with the most widespread element in the universe, which is hydrogen, based on the intuitive assumption that any beings capable of inventing technologies for space communication through stars will certainly know that hydrogen emits a frequency of 1420 MHz.

This number will certainly leave a special impression on the receiving party and reassure him that the communication on this frequency inevitably comes from intelligent and developed creatures.

But sending a signal at this frequency requires collecting many frequencies that will consume a lot of energy;

Therefore, an intelligent civilization that wants to send this signal as far as possible at the same frequency will use a narrow range of frequencies.

To increase the confidence of the receiving party that this signal is intended by intelligent beings, there is no natural phenomenon that emits narrow-band radio frequencies, so the arrival of a signal with this specification will surely find on the receiving end a heeding ear.

Almost 18 years after the publication of this paper, specifically on August 15, 1977, a signal that was completely identical to all the previous specifications set by Morrison and Kokoni arrived from outer space, and was received by the Ohio State University's Big Ear Observatory.

The signal reached the first receiver in the telescope at 11:16 pm, lasted 3 minutes, and when the second receiver was facing the source point, the signal was gone.

Image of the obfuscated sign data printed document where scientist Jerry Ehman wrote the word "WOW" (Wikipedia)

After 3 days, the technical specialist arrived to stop the computer, print the signal data, and erase the data of the storage unit that does not exceed one megabyte (do not be surprised, dear reader, and remember that we are still talking about 1977).

On his way back, he handed the printed paper to the home of scientist Jerry Ehman, who read the data and learned that the signal arrived at a narrow frequency of 1420 MHz, the same frequency that Morrison and Coccone had predicted 18 years earlier.

In the midst of his excitement, the scholar Ehman wrote the English word "WOW" as an expression of his extreme astonishment.

He did not know that this word would become the adjective by which this sign is known;

Wow signal.

Find the source

Immediately, Ehmann and his boss, Robert Dixon, went back to the star charts to find out which planet the signal had come from.

The signal came from the constellation of Sagittarius or the constellation of Sagittarius, specifically to the northwest of the globular constellation "M55", but astronomers did not find any planets there.

The signal seemed to be made to special specifications, but the scientists looked for any satellites, spacecraft, or even aircraft that might have emited a signal or interfered with a ground signal, resulting in a signal similar to a "Wow" signal.

Scientists became more puzzled because at that time (ie 1977) there were no human-made machines or devices capable of creating this signal, and worse, the frequency of the signal itself was unanimously agreed by the governments of the world to ban its use.

The source of the mysterious signal in the constellation Sagittarius or Sagittarius according to the coordinates of the broadcast (Al-Jazeera)

Even after 30 years, no similar signal has reached Earth, and the world's observatories have not detected anything similar to it.

Many have tried to provide a scientific explanation for how this signal is produced and reached us.

Researchers at the Big Ear Observatory analyzed all possibilities.

Satellite communications, radio transmitting frequencies reflected by space debris, aircraft signals, television and radio broadcast signals, and everything that comes to your mind from sources.

Exclusion is not the solution

A team of scientists said that the lack of repeatability of the signal is tempting to interpret it as possibly resulting from a fault in the telescope's electronics, due to the cooling system, or any other mechanical cause.

If the signal was coming from a wise, intelligent civilization, it would have continued transmitting the signal for a period longer than 3 minutes.

The problem with this theory is that there is no reason for such an assumption;

All scientists and researchers in the field of astronomy and space know that if intelligent beings wanted to search for other intelligent beings, they would send only one signal.

Why?

Because we humans have done just that;

In 1974, NASA sent a coded signal through the Arecibo telescope and observatory towards the star galaxy "Andromeda", which is 2.5 million light-years away from Earth.

The terrestrial message was a string of binary numbers that, if put together very precisely, would show a primitive picture of a person, a DNA double helix, and the coordinates of our solar system.

If there is a sane civilization in the galaxy “M31” or Andromeda, it will assert that there is another sane civilization but, like us, it will be unable to determine the source of the signal transmission or assert that there is another sane civilization than broadcasting a single signal. Statistically, this is closer to zero;

If an intelligent civilization wants to communicate, it should send at least two signals.

What is the significance of this sign?

If you ask any astronomer about the largest astronomical event of the modern era, they will most likely tell you a "Wow" sign.

Where humans spend enormous efforts and billions of dollars to understand the source of life, and how it originated on planet Earth.

It is the deepest and most important question that haunts the human mind and worries scientists.

Are we unique and only beings in the universe?

Are there no intelligent creatures in this universe besides us?

From time to time, news agencies broadcast the news of the discovery of planets whose conditions, trajectories and mass around their stars are similar to that of Earth, and NASA sends probe after probe to Mars, Titan and other planets of the solar system in search of a drop of water or even its trace, and it sends telescope after another to monitor the universe in the oldest stage of its stages. configure it.

The lack of repeatability of the signal is tempting to interpret it as possibly resulting from a fault in the telescope's electronics (Getty Images)

In light of this frantic search for the source of life or a drop of water in any distant planet in any galaxy thousands or millions of light-years away from us, the importance of this signal is evident, as it is almost the only event that makes us humans think that we are not alone in the universe, and that there are creatures Another sane person somewhere in space.