The "Wow!" signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

Summary

A new study has re-examined the famous "Wow!" signal, finding that it likely has an extraterrestrial origin after all, and may have been even more intense than previously believed.On August 15, 1977, at the Big Ear radio telescope observatory at Ohio State University, a narrowband radio signal was received. A few days later, astronomer Jerry Ehman reviewed the data and noticed the signal sequence, which lasted for a full 72 seconds. In the margin next to the printout, he simply wrote "Wow!", and thus the puzzling signal had a name that would stick for the next 43 years at least.The signal has, so far, defied explanation, and that's not for a lack of trying. Researchers argued the case for it being a comet passing through the area Big Ear was listening to, only for that to be completely refuted about two days later by the team that detected the Wow! signal in the first place, as a comet would have produced a diffuse signal given the large area they cover, rather than the abruptly cut-off signal that was received.The signal has been a source of speculation in the "aliens are out there" community, and not without reason. No other signal like it has been detected before or since. It was in a range of frequencies close to the hydrogen line, which is relatively free from background noise, making it a good range to pick were we to try and communicate with other civilizations ourselves. On top of that, the team themselves believed it to be a good candidate for extraterrestrial life. "The 'Wow!' signal is highly suggestive of extraterrestrial intelligent origin," Ohio State University Radio Observatory director John Kraus wrote in a letter to Carl Sagan in 1994, "but little more can be said until it returns for further study."VIDEO Since then, the signal has been the subject of many studies, but it has never returned. In a new attempt to narrow down what it might be, a team of scientists re-analyzed decades of data from the Big Ear telescope using modern signal analysis tech...