The Fermi Paradox

Kinkajou:. Are there any famous cases of messages that are claimed to be from aliens?

Messages from Aliens

Erasmus: . We have researched that there have been many human contacts with EBEs throughout history. But there have been some incredible events in recent times as well.
The most famous candidate for an alien signal that I’m aware of would be the “Wow Signal.” The Event occurred on 15 August 1977 when a universities “Big Ear” radio telescope picked up a high intensity, narrow frequency band signal. The telescope is part of the SETI (Search For Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) program and was looking for exactly this type of signal. The radio waves seemed to be coming from the region of the sky around Sagittarius constellation.

The “Wow Signal” got its name because one of the astronomers reviewing the data noticed a spike and wrote on the margins of the computer printout “Wow”. No repeat of the signal has been detected.

WOW Signal

Dr. Jerry R. Ehman’s now famous annotation in the margin of the data printout containing the highly unusual signal spike.
The "6EQUJ5" code in channel 2 means successive intensities as follows:
6 --> the range 6.0 - 6.999...
E --> the range 14.0 - 14.999...
Q --> the range 26.0 - 26.999...
U --> the range 30.0 - 30.999...
J --> the range 19.0 - 19.999...
5 --> the range 5.0 - 5.999...

The Wow! signal read as “6EQUJ5”, meaning it reached a peak signal-to-noise ratio of 30 . The value "U", meaning the range 30.0 - 30.999..., was the largest value ever seen. Curiously, although Big Ear had two feed horns, which observed sources at slightly different times as the sky passed overhead, the Wow! signal passed through only one of them.

Kinkajou:. There has been considerable speculation about alternate explanations for the signal (besides aliens).

Erasmus: . .
Interstellar Scintillation: This is due to a radio signal passing through different and variable media in space such as ionised gas clouds. The effect is akin to why stars twinkle in our night-time sky.

Twinkling stars are caused by Atmospheric Scintillation.

Erasmus: . Other explanations

A Rotating Emission Source: In 1966, approximately 10 years before the WOW signal was recorded, a strong periodic recurrent signal was recorded sourced from the constellation of Vulpecula by a graduate student at Cambridge University. The source was later identified as a rapidly rotating neutron star (pulsar) called CP 1919. Pulsar signals continue to periodically repeat, unlike the WOW signal.

Pulsars cause repeating radio signals that were originally thought to be candidate SETI signals, like those documented in the discovery of the first pulsar, above.

Pulsar Signal Trace

Erasmus: . . Other explanations –

A One-Time Radio Burst
Some stellar processes produce signals called Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) or if lasting for a very short duration called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). The bursts are incredibly intense, putting out as much energy in a millisecond as our Sun puts out in 3 days.

It’s hypothesized that a Gamma Ray Burst in our galactic neighbourhood that emits a large blast of radiation in Earth’s direction could potentially cause a mass extinction event. Some hypothesize that just such an event 440 million years ago (caused by a nearby supernova) may have caused the late Ordovician Mass Extinction, which wiped out 85% of the species on Earth by stripping away Earth’s ozone layer that protects living things from radiation.

FRBs emit most of this energy in a narrow beam, like a lighthouse.

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are powerful, directional radio bursts that can theoretically strip away Earth’s protective ozone layer.

GRB Gamma Ray Burst
Erasmus: . . Other explanations –
An Earth-Bound Radio Source that Reflected Off a Piece of Space Debris

Human activity on this planet can generate a lot of radio frequency emissions in communication or industrial processes. This theory suggests that perhaps one such emission was reflected off a piece of space junk such as an old rocket booster satellite and picked up by the radio telescope that found the WOW signal.

This hypothesis seems unlikely, however, considering that the frequency of the WOW Signal (around 1,420 MHz) is in the Protected Spectrum, which is supposed to be reserved and not used. There have, however, been examples where humans have caused radio emissions in that frequency range either accidentally or deliberately, in violation of the Protected Spectrum. Subsequent calculations showed this theory to be unlikely, as the size and radio reflectivity of the space debris would have to be unrealistically large to create a signal with the characteristics of the “WOW” signal.

But, There is a LOT of space debris out there!

Space Debris

Erasmus: . Other explanations –

Hydrogen Cloud of Two Passing Comets
Some researchers have suggested that the hydrogen cloud turning 2 comets in the general area of the sky with the WOW signal originated could have caused the signal.
(The 2 comets are 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs.)

However further investigation revealed that the comets weren’t closely enough aligned with the radio signal to have been the source of the signal and there is currently no known process involving a comet that could generate such a signal.

WOW and Gas Clouds

The possibility that the hydrogen gas clouds surrounding two comets might have been the source of the WOW Signal has been dispelled.

Kinkajou:. So we really do not have an alternate explanation for the WOW signal?
Erasmus: . Correct. Science unfortunately is a discipline that requires confirmation. And there are circumstances, for example an alien radio operator suddenly realising he has breached radio blackout, which essentially guarantee no repetition or confirmation.

Erasmus: . An Even Wilder Idea
A mathematician proposed a theory in 2013 suggesting that there is statistically significant evidence to consider that the genetic DNA code of human beings is in itself statistically significant evidence for artificiality in design.

He suggested the divisor “37” appears too recurrently and that other aspects of the genetic code are too organised and efficient to have developed as a natural process.

Genetic Code

He suggests that the chances that the DNA code developed via random evolution is less than one in 10 to the -13.

According to this hypothesis, the Genetic Code is too well designed to have been produced by random mutations.

Goo: . The genetic code is not random. It will favour particular structures and codes that favour particular structures. In short, the need for a "successful" structure guarantees the code is not random. The amino acid Arginine is statistically more commonly incorporated than the amino acid Lysine- obviously necessary to achieve "structure".

Goo: . The reality is that many of the genes on this planet are shared to some extent between plants and animals and microbes. To say that the genetic code could not have developed randomly is therefore to propose an explanation for the development and evolution of life on this planet – namely attributing the development and evolution of life on planet Earth either to “God” or to “Directed Panspermia”.

Kinkajou:. Hasn’t there been another candidate for “WOW”?
Erasmus: . . Yes. The SETI Institute announced in late 2019 that a New Candidate Signal was isolated with a narrowband and some frequency drift suggesting it came from moving planet.

The source of the signal was Proxima Centauri which is thought to be orbited by at least one habitable planet. It has been dubbed Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1 or simply
BLC-1. The signal is present for full observation lasting several hours and could not be found in any other adjacent regions of the sky. BLC-1 hasn’t been seen since it was first detected in the spring of 2019.

Goo: . So, what new proposals do we have for SETI?

Erasmus: . New proposals suggest using multiple large dishes simultaneously across large distances and combining their signals in a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry.

This technology generates huge amounts of data requiring significant computer CPU power to process the signal. An observation of a few minutes would generate many terabytes of data (1 terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes). This technology is capable of pinpointing the position of a signal with extreme accuracy, in effect down to a single star or even a single planet around a star. (In the case Proxima Centauri, this technique could achieve a precision of approximately 1/1000th of an astronomical unit (AU).

The other advantage of observing with an interferometric array of telescopes, is that a number of different instruments would be independently confirming the detection of a signal. Also, radio interference from Earth wouldn’t be registered by telescope sites separated by hundreds of kilometres. Single Parabolic dishes by contrast are very sensitive to large areas of sky, but are very poor at localising signal source.

So the human made interference that has contributed to so many false positives for SETI, and has included orbiting satellites and even microwave ovens, would completely disappear.
Dr Axxxx: .  This kind of interferometry is a well-established technique that has been around since the late 1960s. So why are we not doing SETI with it systematically?

Erasmus: . One reason is that combining data together from an array of telescopes requires more effort in almost all regards, including greater computing resources. An observation of a few minutes would generate many terabytes of data (1 terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes). This would require some very powerful computing capacity – in fact a good number of vast parallel CPU processes, to process the detected data in realistic timeframes.

Arecibo Telescope

The Arecibo Telescope was a 305 m (1,000 ft.) spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The Arecibo Telescope was primarily used for research in radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and radar astronomy, as well as for programs that search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI).

See our SETI page at enktechs.com and on this site.

Kinkajou:. I cannot help but be a little bit worried about the possibility of communicating with aliens.
Erasmus: . Earth has been emitting radio wave signals in increasing amounts for several decades. It is likely that sensitive interferometry arrays could detect our signals for distances up to light years. What worries me is that the signals we have detected look like they have been “turned off”. This implies deliberate action to hide “alien” presence from humanity.

Goo: . They know about us and they do not want us to know about them.

Dr Axxxx: .  Don’t forget The Fermi principle. This tells us that the galaxy should be full of intelligent life. And yet no signals from neighbouring plants and no alien species have come forward to tell us of the existence of extra- terrestrial life. Officially we are alone in the universe. Alone with more technologically advanced and perhaps more powerful neighbours who do not trust us and who do not seek to help us in any way.
Goo: . A friend once said to me that before revealing information to another, you should always anticipate the consequences of your actions.

If we do not know what good may come of us interacting with our alien neighbours, perhaps we are best continuing in isolation and separation.

There is no reason to believe that our alien neighbours will assist us in spite of all the statements that have been made to abductees/contactees over the years. Look not at what they say but at what they do. If they do not act as friends, you should be careful not to treat them as friends.