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Just what WAS the Wow! Signal?

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PCarr

PCarr

Paranormal Adept
The Wow! Signal - detected in August, 1977 - is the closest SETI scientists have ever come to detecting an ET signal. Just about everything about it was perfect, but it it was a one-time event and so can't be convincingly assigned to an ETI. All the known conventional explanations for it have been pretty well ruled out.

I have summarized the reasons why the Wow! Signal sure looks like an ET beacon.

Dream of the Open Channel: The Case for the Wow! Signal

If you guys want to use this a general thread to discuss the virtues of SETI, that's OK with me. I think the hostile response that some UFOlogists have to SETI is instructive.
 
I've never heard of this "Wow Signal".

Do you know of a good web page that describes exactly what it was, the type of data, location, etc. ?
 
Charlie Prime said:
I've never heard of this "Wow Signal".

Do you know of a good web page that describes exactly what it was, the type of data, location, etc. ?
Click to expand...
The best article online is by Jerry Ehman, the guy who first spotted the Wow! Signal in a stack of computer printouts:

The Big Ear Wow! Signal (Dr. Jerry R. Ehman)

Robert Gray is the guy who tried hardest to follow up on this, and his book "The Elusive Wow!" is good.
 
theres been a film made about the WOW signal hasnt there ?.

ive seen the likes of seth shostack [spelling?] talking about it in doco's, must of been an exiting time for them.
could of been a nasa type discovery, timed for funding talks aswell tho.
 
manxman said:
theres been a film made about the WOW signal hasnt there ?.

ive seen the likes of seth shostack [spelling?] talking about it in doco's, must of been an exiting time for them.
could of been a nasa type discovery, timed for funding talks aswell tho.
Click to expand...
I'm not aware of a film, but would like to see one.
 
mr carr i may have seen it as part of another sci fi film, and not a stand alone, its in the back off my head now the jody foster film contact, but i am far from sure about that..
 
PCarr said:
..

I have summarized the reasons why the Wow! Signal sure looks like an ET beacon...
Click to expand...
Nice summary, and a fine reminder why the WOW-signal should still get som wows!

Has anyone made any suggestions as to why the wow-signal, if from a technological source, lasted 72 seconds? Should we assume that 72 seconds reflects some fixed time interval and perhaps a natural rythm/cycle of an alien world, and can it help us narrow down candidate planets to search more thoroughly?

Tough one to answer, I know, but since there are so few parameters to investigate, I'm just curious if anyone made any qualified guesses wrt the duration of the signal?
 
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yes theres a qualified guess in don eckers thread posted 2 days ago, its a very good, and she makes alot of sense.

basically, if you are going to target your signal to many planets you find in the goldielox zone, theres a limit as to how long the signal can last, if you have to direct it at 1000s of planets targeted individually.

because if someone out there catches it, understands it is a signal, they will get back to you.
 
Jimi H. said:
Nice summary, and a fine reminder why the WOW-signal should still get som wows!

Has anyone made any suggestions as to why the wow-signal, if from a technological source, lasted 72 seconds? Should we assume that 72 seconds reflects some fixed time interval and perhaps a natural rythm/cycle of an alien world, and can it help us narrow down candidate planets to search more thoroughly?

Tough one to answer, I know, but since there are so few parameters to investigate, I'm just curious if anyone made any qualified guesses wrt the duration of the signal?
Click to expand...

I think we do understand the duration of the signal, or at least have a simple explanation that fits the facts, and it is one of the reasons the signal is so intriguing.

The Ohio State Big Ear radio telescope was was far too large to be steered like a parabolic dish antenna. It was fixed on the ground and depended on the Earth's rotation to sweep it over the sky. A rising and falling signal lasting 72 seconds is exactly what you would expect for a source at a fixed location on the celestial sphere (no apparent motion with respect to the distant stars) as the telescope's beam swept past.
 
Charlie Prime said:
I read somewhere that all man-made electromagnetic signals diffuse into nothing but background noise about 1 light year from earth.
Click to expand...
That depends on too many variables to have a single answer, but yes, most of our signals could not be demodulated at anything like interstellar distances, give what we understand would be a reasonably sized aperture on the other end. That does not mean that clever ET radio astronomers could not detect us statistically, although they would probably not be able to make out "I Love Lucy".
 
manxman said:
yes theres a qualified guess in don eckers thread posted 2 days ago, its a very good, and she makes alot of sense.

basically, if you are going to target your signal to many planets you find in the goldielox zone, theres a limit as to how long the signal can last, if you have to direct it at 1000s of planets targeted individually.

because if someone out there catches it, understands it is a signal, they will get back to you.
Click to expand...

see my reply to Jimi H. He gets priority, being a dead guitar great and all.
 
boomerang said:
How about an expert on the WOW signal for a Paracast guest? And no--I'm not suggesting Shostak.
Click to expand...
The discoverer was Jerry Ehman. He's retired now and hard to find (I've tried). Robert Gray is the main guy who tried to follow up on the signal, and he's possibly available although has not responded to my e-mails.
 
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