More WOW signals ?

[mike]

Radio signals from outer space baffle scientists
By Stephen Morgan 4 hours ago in Science
Bizarre radio waves pulsating from outer space have left astronomers stumped. Standard physics is neither capable of explaining the signals' patterns, nor giving the precise origin of their synchronized bursts.

Since 2001, there have been 10 such signals, which are called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). But scientists have never been able to explain them. They were first discovered by researchers going through data accumulated after the event, but last year the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught one happening in real time. This, together with recent observations from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, finally put pay to skeptics in the scientific community, who contested that the radio signals were the result of technical malfunctions.Now, in a new study, scientists have discovered more important information about the radio bursts, which is helping to narrow down the search for their nature and origins. But, paradoxically, the data also seems in some ways to have added to the mystery surrounding them. According to New Scientist, the scientists found that the bursts come in intervals which are always multiples of one number — 187.5 — and they have calculated that there is only a 5 in 10,000 probability that this is coincidence.


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/scientists-baffled-by-radio-signals-from-outer-space/article/429722#ixzz3W6JUVfVh


Scientists have, for a long time, looked to radio waves, which transmit mathematical formulas, as one possibility for discovering alien life. Mathematics, the argument goes, is the only likely language through which we could communicate.
The statistical precision off these FRBs is being taken seriously as possible evidence of extraterrestrial communications. The paper written by the two scientist makes it clear that,
"An artificial source (human or non-human) must be considered."
The other leader of the study, Michael Hippke of the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, added that,
"This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an ET."

 

[mike]

Mystery radio bursts from space could be from aliens, scientists say - Market Business News

 

[Polterwurst]

Even though it wouldn't be too hard to believe that SETI could have missed these signals somehow, I'm still fairly sure this is an april fool's joke. Thank you.

 

[mike]

Even though it wouldn't be too hard to believe that SETI could have missed these signals somehow, I'm still fairly sure this is an april fool's joke. Thank you.

I considered that, but ive checked some of the names and they are real scientists, and this one is dated march 31 which isnt typical of an April fools joke

Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space - space - 31 March 2015 - New Scientist

 

[Polterwurst]

I hope you're right, but I'll wait a few days, just to be sure.

 

[mike]

CAS - Staff - Emily Petroff


And id be doubtful our CSIRO would run a prank, though its not impossible

Cosmic radio burst caught red-handed

Keep in mind that Ms Petroff saw hers "live" on or around 19 january 2015




19 January 2015
Cosmic radio burst caught red-handed
A short, sharp flash of radio waves from a mysterious source up to 5.5 billion light years from Earth has been detected by CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope in eastern Australia


Swinburne University of Technology PhD student, Emily Petroff, 'saw' the burst live - a first for astronomers.
Lasting only milliseconds, the first such radio burst was discovered in 2007 by astronomers combing old Parkes data archives for unrelated objects.
Six more bursts, apparently from outside our Galaxy, have now been found with the Parkes telescope and a seventh with the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.
Astronomers worldwide have been vying to explain the phenomenon.
"These bursts were generally discovered weeks, months or even more than a decade after they happened," Ms Petroff said.
"We are the first to catch one in real time."
Confident that she would spot a 'live' burst, Ms Petroff had an international team of astronomers poised to make rapid follow-up observations, at wavelengths from radio to X-ray.
After the Parkes telescope saw the burst go off, the team swung into action on twelve telescopes around the world – in Australia, California, the Canary Islands, Chile, Germany, Hawaii, and India – as well as space-based telescopes.

 

[mike]

A real-time fast radio burst: polarization detection and multiwavelength follow-up

 

[Polterwurst]

Sorry about the sketpicism, but you know, it was one of these "sounds too good to be true" situations.

 

[PCarr]

A real-time fast radio burst: polarization detection and multiwavelength follow-up

That's not the paper in question, but it's a good start. No one could find a counterpart to that particular burst, which is interesting.

Here is the paper that has roused all the hyperbole in the press. You may note in the abstract that there is evidence that the signals are of human origin.

 

[PCarr]

BTW, these FRBs don't look anything like the "Wow Signal."

 

[Heidi Lemmer]

I know this is a dumb question but I'll ask , can our own "noise" filter out and bounce back at us and be misinterpreted as a signal?

 

[PCarr]

I know this is a dumb question but I'll ask , can our own "noise" filter out and bounce back at us and be misinterpreted as a signal?

In principle, yes. the Earth's magnetosphere can do some very complex things if conditions are just right. I looked into that a bit for my segment on Long Delay Echoes. However, for these FRBs, they are almost certainly not an echo. They could be of human origin, but if so, it's probably being transmitted from space, IMO.

 

[Heidi Lemmer]

In principle, yes. the Earth's magnetosphere can do some very complex things if conditions are just right. I looked into that a bit for my segment on Long Delay Echoes. However, for these FRBs, they are almost certainly not an echo. They could be of human origin, but if so, it's probably being transmitted from space, IMO.

That was a really good podcast. I'll have to catch up on the previous episodes, thanks for your efforts in putting that together.

 

[mike]

That's not the paper in question, but it's a good start. No one could find a counterpart to that particular burst, which is interesting.

Here is the paper that has roused all the hyperbole in the press. You may note in the abstract that there is evidence that the signals are of human origin.

If you look at that article you can see

1. E. Petroff1,2,3,★,

Which then ties to the other articles

As for counterparts

Six more bursts, apparently from outside our Galaxy, have now been found with the Parkes telescope and a seventh with the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.
Astronomers worldwide have been vying to explain the phenomenon.
"These bursts were generally discovered weeks, months or even more than a decade after they happened," Ms Petroff said.


Mysterious radio wave flashes from far outside the galaxy are proving tough for astronomers to explain. Is it pulsars? A spy satellite? Or an alien message?
BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.
Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have been detected so far, most recently in 2014, when the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught a burst in action for the first time. The others were found by sifting through data after the bursts had arrived at Earth. No one knows what causes them, but the brevity of the bursts means their source has to be small – hundreds of kilometres across at most – so they can't be from ordinary stars. And they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.
The weird part is that they all fit a pattern that doesn't match what we know about cosmic physics.

 

[mike]

You are correct though that live burst was not detected by anyone else, and it could be no more than a previously unknown astronomical mechanism, but they are also adding ET to the list of possibilitys and thats the aspect that interests me the most

 

[mike]

As for these being analogous to the WOW signal i think enough parallels exist. the WOW was a Brief burst of radio, these are fast radio bursts

Nicknamed the “Wow!” signal, this was a brief burst of radio waves detected by astronomer Jerry Ehman who was working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope, Ohio. The signal was, in fact, so remarkable that Ehman circled it on the computer printout, writing “Wow!” in the margin — and unintentionally giving the received radio signal the name under which it would become famous.

Despite a lot of effort, no identification has been found for the signal’s source, and no repeat signal has ever been found. It’s a complete mystery. The only conclusion that can be drawn is if the signal truly did originate in deep space, then it was either an astrophysical phenomenon of which we’ve never seen before, or it truly was an intercepted alien signal.

These FRB's are also remarkable and the speculation is identical , either a astrophysical phenomenon weve never seen before or maybe ET.

Whats different is we have more than one example in this case

 

[PCarr]

As for these being analogous to the WOW signal i think enough parallels exist. the WOW was a Brief burst of radio, these are fast radio bursts

Nicknamed the “Wow!” signal, this was a brief burst of radio waves detected by astronomer Jerry Ehman who was working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope, Ohio. The signal was, in fact, so remarkable that Ehman circled it on the computer printout, writing “Wow!” in the margin — and unintentionally giving the received radio signal the name under which it would become famous.

Despite a lot of effort, no identification has been found for the signal’s source, and no repeat signal has ever been found. It’s a complete mystery. The only conclusion that can be drawn is if the signal truly did originate in deep space, then it was either an astrophysical phenomenon of which we’ve never seen before, or it truly was an intercepted alien signal.

These FRB's are also remarkable and the speculation is identical , either a astrophysical phenomenon weve never seen before or maybe ET.

Whats different is we have more than one example in this case

Yeah, I know a little bit about the Wow! Signal (I even interviewed Bob Dixon about it), but it may have lasted several minutes (we don't know because of the way the Big Ear was designed). IT was much longer duration than an FRB, and unfortunately no DM was measured by we know it was narrow band.

 

[Constance]

In principle, yes. the Earth's magnetosphere can do some very complex things if conditions are just right. I looked into that a bit for my segment on Long Delay Echoes. However, for these FRBs, they are almost certainly not an echo. They could be of human origin, but if so, it's probably being transmitted from space, IMO.

Do you mean these signals could have an origin on earth and be transmitted (beamed?) back to earth by some unintentional physical process or object in space?

 

[Constance]

This seems of particular interest:

According to New Scientist, the scientists found that the bursts come in intervals which are always multiples of one number — 187.5 — and they have calculated that there is only a 5 in 10,000 probability that this is coincidence.

Are there any other characteristics or patterns in addition to this?

 

[PCarr]

This seems of particular interest:



Are there any other characteristics or patterns in addition to this?

Yes. They found a similarity to something called perytons, which may indicate a non-cosmoc origin. Specifically, the signals fall statistically close to a UTc second boundary. This makes no sense unless they are of artificial origin, but they only have 11 so far, so we could be fooled by randomness here.