Alien signals, really?

[Rogue]

Are Aliens Behind Mysterious Radio Bursts? Scientists Weigh In

The Huffington Post |  By Macrina Cooper-White
Posted: 04/02/2015 9:15 am EDT

For the past eight years, astronomers have been scratching their heads over a series of strange radio signals emanating from somewhere in the cosmos. And now, the mystery has deepened.

Parkes radio telescope

A new study shows that the so-called "fast radio bursts" follow a weirdly specific pattern -- a finding that the researchers behind the study say "is very hard to explain."

"There is something really interesting we need to understand," study co-author Michael Hippke, a scientist at the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, told New Scientist. "This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an E.T."

Alien signals, really? That might sound far out, but a leading scientist in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) says we shouldn't rule out that possibility.

"These fast radio bursts could conceivably be 'wake up calls' from other societies, trying to prompt a response from any intelligent life that's outfitted with radio technology," Dr. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and director of the Center for SETI Research who was not involved in the study, told The Huffington Post in an email. "On the other hand, they could also be perfectly natural, astrophysical phenomena."

For the research, which was described in a March 30 post on the online research database arXiv, Hippke and his colleagues analyzed 11 bursts detected since 2007, the latest of which was captured by the Parkes radio telescope (above) in May 2014.

The scientists looked at a specific feature called the "dispersion measure" -- which represents the time differential between the detection of a burst's high frequencies and its low frequencies. (Low frequencies travel more slowly through space dust, and thus take longer than high frequencies to reach Earth.)

To their surprise, they found that the dispersion measure of every pulse was a multiple of the number 187.5.

Such an even spacing "is likely not produced by something like a supernova explosion," Hippke told HuffPost Science in an email. "All frequencies leave the nova at the same time, and the DM [dispersion measure] is created by dust crossing. As the amount of dust varies, the DM would seem random."

Hippke said the pulses probably are generated by some as-yet-unidentified source here on Earth that emits short-frequency radio waves followed by high-frequency ones -- perhaps something as simple as a cell phone base station. If that's not the explanation, it's possible they come from a new, unknown kind of cosmic object in deep space.

Or those aliens.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/radio-bursts-alien-signals_n_6984870.html

[Rockhopper]

It's them bladdy Martians again Roggie. Taking the mickey they are!

Tim.

[Rogue]

Nah, the Martians are long gone. They're mixed with us now.

[Agartha]

I read the original article on New Scientist and a few points from there:

- There is 1:10000 and 5:10000 possibility it is a natural event and/or a coincidence
- Maybe there is no pattern as only 10 bursts have been recorded since 2001
- Could be human made technology in disguise, such as a secret unmapped satellite masquerading as signal from deep space

The scientist interviewed in the article ends it with this:

"There is something really interesting we need to understand. This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an ET."

...or an earthly satellite in disguise....

I think they haven't a clue yet..... lol

[Rockhopper]

It could be a Gamma Ray Burst from a distant star! Who knows?

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Meanwhile back on planet Zoiks: "Ya know, I keep sending that little blue planet an invite to the Galactic Jubilee, I mean ever since we got their odd signals about bus drivers and what they think space travel is, and they keep refusing to acknowledge the RSVP."

Other Zoikian; "Those rude butt-heads! "

Original speaker: "Yeah see if I bother sending them any more after this last silent rejection, the passive aggressive twonks!"

[Agartha]

hahaha Len!!!

[Lenzabi]

hahaha Len!!!

I try.

[Rockhopper]

You crack me up sometimes Len!

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Thanks all. (Bows)

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