The mystery of the Wow! -Signal

The mystery of the Wow! -Signal

Wow! Signal represented as 6EQUJ5

Scientists from the Center for Planetary Science report that they were able to solve the riddle of the Wow! Signal, caught in 1977. They believe that it was a comet, the existence of which at that time simply did not know.

In August 1977, a group of astronomers studying radio programs at the Ohio Observatory noticed an unusual 72-second signal. He was so strong that Jerry Eman could not resist and wrote next to him Wow! (Wow!). Since then, scientists have begun to look for a source. Among the assumptions figured asteroids, exoplanets, terrestrial interference. Some even thought it was an alien message. The signal arrived at a frequency of 1420 MHz, which corresponds to hydrogen.

Last year, the first clues appeared when astronomers suggested that the reason might be in the hydrogen cloud that followed the comet. Especially since her movement perfectly explained why the signal was no longer seen. They decided that at that moment, two comets were present in the explored area: P / 2008 Y2 and 266 / P Christensen, which were then not seen and discovered. This theory was tested from November 2016 to February 2017, when objects again appeared in the sky.

The mystery of the Wow! -Signal

Planetary Science Center

It turned out that the signal 40 years ago corresponded to the position 266 / P Christensen. To be sure, they also looked at three other comets and found similar results. Therefore, it is still difficult to determine the specific object, but they are sure that the source was one of the comets.

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