astronomer who detected " foreign signals " that appeared to come from a little , dim adept have finally catch to the bottom of the whodunit .
Researchers first pluck up what they now call the " Weird ! " signal on May 12 using the Arecibo Observatory , a immense radio telescope build inside of a Puerto Rican swallow hole . ( It ’s renowned for appear in the foreign sci - fi picture show " striking " . )
The signal appeared to come from Ross 128 , ared dwarf starlocated about 11 light - years from Earth . The star topology is about 2,800 times dimmer than the sun and not yet sleep with to have any satellite .
Abel Méndez , an astrobiologist at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo , tell Business Insider on July 14 that the star was observed for 10 minutes , during which meter the signal was picked up and observed to be " almost periodic . "
While Méndez and astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( SETI ) Institute extremely doubt thatalien lifewas responsible , they want to be certain — so they began a unexampled round of Arecibo notice on Sunday , July 16 .
The " Weird ! " signal detected by Arecibo Observatory . Planetary Habitability Laboratory / University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo
The sweet data took nearly a week to download from Arecibo ’s servers and analyze , and what they found wo n’t please any exotic - hunt hopefuls .
" The salutary explanation is that the signals are transmissions from one or more geostationary satellites , " Méndez and his Arecibo colleague wrote in a exit supply to Business Insider .
Geostationary satellites revolve the Earth from about 22,236 miles high , which keeps them levitate over the same exact dapple on the planet ’s surface . At the same time , however , they can hover very close to star that astronomers are studying for extensive periods of time .
" This excuse why the signal were within the planet frequencies and only appeared and persisted in Ross 128 ; the star is close to the heavenly equator where many geostationary satellites are placed , " the astronomers say .
The history behind the mysteryWhile Arecibo is known for its role in efforts to research forsignals from aliens , it ’s also great for looking at distant galaxies andpinging near - Earth asteroids .
Méndez always think the sign was most likely coming from something that humans put in space , and in particular a geostationary planet ( which turned out to be the instance ) .
" The field of view of [ Arecibo ] is wide enough , so there is the possibleness that the signal were caused not by the star but another object in the product line of sight , " Méndez say , adding that " some communication satellites conduct in the relative frequency we observed . "
What made this hump hard to prove , however , was that he said his squad had " never seen satellites emit bursts like that , " predict the signals " very peculiar " in aJuly 12 blog billet .
NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center / S. Wiessinger
At the time , one other lead account was a stellar flare — an tumultuous disturbance of energy from the wiz ’s surface .
The sun give out flares like this , and they travel at light - amphetamine , emit powerful radiocommunication signals , and can interrupt orbiter and communications on Earth , as well asendanger cosmonaut .
Solar flares can also be chased by a slower - travel yet more up-and-coming coronal deal ejections : a flood of solar particles that can colour our satellite ’s magnetic field , generate geomagnetic storm , andcripple power gridsandfry electronics .
A new look toward Ross 128To see if the signals were still there , and what might be get them , Arecibo stared down Ross 128 and its milieu several times , gathering tens of GB of new data point .
The team found the signal again with Arecibo , along with other other institution that had connect in : SETI Berkeley from the Green Bank Telescope and the SETI Institute’sAllen Telescope Arrayin California .
Several transmitting aerial that are part of the Allen Telescope Array . SETI Institute
After the Arecibo astronomers download and studied the data , they said in the release that they were " now positive about the source of the Weird ! Signal " : geostationary satellites .
Méndez and his confrere expect some people will be disappointed that the signal was man - made andnot from aliens , but they said the squad — and peculiarly its educatee members — learned a lot by taking the mysterious result public .
" The example here is that we all need to persist in exploring and deal result openly , " they wrote in apost issue Friday morning .
Seth Shostak , a senior uranologist at the SETI Institute , previously told Business Insider that the chances of " terrestrial interference " from human - made object was high . " That ’s really always been the slip , " Shostak say .
While the " Weird ! " signal will link up other untrue alarms in the history books , Shostak say there still isone compelling signaling from outer quad that might come from aliens , and no one has figured out the origin of in decennary .
" [ T]heWOW signaling , " Shostak tell . " That one is still quite odd . "
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