New theory emerges on 1977 'Wow!' signal's extraterrestrial origin

The Live Science portal writes that one of the most intriguing puzzles in astronomy has become even more fascinating. It's all because of the mysterious "Wow!" signal, which got its name from a comment written on a printout from the Big Ear telescope in 1977. Until now, scientists had assumed the transmission could confirm extraterrestrial life.

The large, red-lettered "Wow!" on a sheet with a numeric printout has become almost iconic in the scientific world. This was the work of astronomer Jerry Ehman, who noticed the mysterious transmission on a printout received by the Big Ear telescope at Ohio State University. The discovery is now almost 50 years old, as the cosmic "eye" picked up the signal in 1977 during a routine scan of space looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Big Ear recorded waves for 72 seconds from the vicinity of the Sagittarius constellation, transmitted at an "extremely specific frequency of 1420 MHz." Scientists noted that hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, naturally emits radio waves at this frequency. This led astronomers to suspect that aliens could have chosen this frequency to try to contact Earth.

The problem, however, is that the "Wow!" signal was never picked up again, and no logical explanation was found. Until now, Abel Méndez has examined the mysterious contact from the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico. The scientist suspects that "Wow!" may be a chance detection of an extremely intense flare hitting an interstellar cloud of hydrogen gas. A dense, magnetic star known as a magnetar could have emitted such a strong flare.

"It is a very rare event," Méndez said in a conversation with Live Science. The scientist notes that he is still astonished that astronomers managed to detect it. At the same time, the expert explains that in his recent studies, the results of which were published in the journal "The Astrophysical Journal," his team detected eight signals similar to the "Wow!" signal from 1977.

The signals were very similar and were transmitted at a frequency of 1420 MHz. Each of the eight signals lasted from two to three minutes. Although they were generally 50 to 100 times weaker than the original transmission, scientists emphasize this is because a magnetar did not illuminate the signals. The results suggest that in 1977, Big Ear was directed at one of the hydrogen clouds ejected by a magnetar, and it was this cloud that the telescope recognized—not a signal from an alien civilization.