THE CONVERSATION: A mysterious signal looked like a sign of alien technology — but it turned out to be radio interference

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In December last year, the media reported an intriguing signal we at the Breakthrough Listen project found in our radio telescope data. Dubbed BLC1, the signal didn’t appear to be the result of any recognisable astrophysical activity or any familiar Earth-based interference.

The story of BLC1 starts in April 2019, when Andrew Zic, who at the time was a PhD student at the University of Sydney, began observing the nearby star Proxima Centauri with multiple telescopes to search for flare activity. At 4.22 light years away, Proxima Centauri is our nearest stellar neighbour, but it is too faint to see with the naked eye.

Still, as our nearest neighbour, Proxima Centauri b remains a compelling target for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence . Proxima Centauri is one of the only stars we could potentially ever visit in our lifetime. A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky over the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank on August 13, 2013 in Holmes Chapel, United Kingdom.

the signal only occupies one narrow band of frequencies, whereas signals from stars or other astrophysical sources occur over a much wider range

 

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