Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

An Interesting SETI Candidate in Hercules


Recommended Posts

I happened across this curious article today in which it seems Russian astronomers have detected a signal similar to the now famous WOW event. Paul Gilster broke the news on the Centauri Dreams blog and the story hasn't really gathered any steam as of yet but it is definitely interesting enough to warrant further investigation and discussion and as we speak there are now telescopes being pointed at the star in question.

It's not just the detection of a signal that is interesting but the star itself  HD164595 is already known to have a confirmed exoplanet orbiting it and more on point the star is extremely similar to that of our own and quoted as being in " Its metallicity is almost identical to that of the Sun".
However the Russian astronomers first detected this blip over a year ago and only now is it being reported on, so that in itself will raise questions there are already calls to have the star permantly monitored.

Of course there are any number of things that this could be but without further monitoring then we will never know, it's definitely interesting and after all this is what SETI does but I don't believe anyone is getting ahead of themselves.

Here is the link to the Paul Gilster article and some choice quotes. It's always worth reading the comments too as peers weigh in.

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=36248

Quote

A candidate signal for SETI is a welcome sign that our efforts in that direction may one day pay off. An international team of researchers has announced the detection of “a strong signal in the direction of HD164595” in a document now being circulated through contact person Alexander Panov. The detection was made with the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, in the Karachay–Cherkess Republic of Russia, not far from the border with Georgia in the Caucasus.

The signal was received on May 15, 2015, 18:01:15.65 (sidereal time), at a wavelength of 2.7 cm. The estimated amplitude of the signal is 750 mJy.

No one is claiming that this is the work of an extraterrestrial civilization, but it is certainly worth further study. Working out the strength of the signal, the researchers say that if it came from an isotropic beacon, it would be of a power possible only for a Kardashev Type II civilization. If it were a narrow beam signal focused on our Solar System, it would be of a power available to a Kardashev Type I civilization. The possibility of noise of one form or another cannot be ruled out, and researchers in Paris led by Jean Schneider are considering the possible microlensing of a background source by HD164595. But the signal is provocative enough that the RATAN-600 researchers are calling for permanent monitoring of this target.

Here is another article with some added info. The comments there are, well lets just say not as academic. :D

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/signal-seti-interest-hd164595/

 

Hopefully there will be news soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the heads up.

It will happen some day for sure, the cosmos is too large for us on Earth to be on our own. Interesting if the signal is detectable all or most of the time unlike the famous 'WOW' signal. Science needs reproducible data.

Cheers,
Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A signal would raise as many questions as answers. I personally don't see why an intelligent species would intentionally broadcast their presence in a dangerous Universe, but then again it's just possible aliens know more than me :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do worry about any detection of an world intelligence and I am sure governments have ways to stop all but authorized responses but that would only last a few months then the intelligence would be bombarded with episodes of eastenders etc.

The big problem as I see it is that only civilizations just starting out with the required tech would transmit in the first place with the knowledge that any respondent would be too far away to be a problem, the very advanced civilizations would listen for their next prey.

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So a couple of updates overnight, it seems they have pointed ATA at the star but as of yet not found anything which is not all that surprising.

http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/a-seti-signal?utm_content=bufferc8c19&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Quote

The chance that this is truly a signal from extraterrestrials is not terribly promising, and the discoverers themselves apparently doubt that they’ve found ET.  Nonetheless, one should check out all reasonable possibilities, given the importance of the subject.

Consequently, the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) was swung in the direction of HD 164595 beginning on the evening of August 28.  According to our scientists Jon Richards and Gerry Harp, it has so far not found any signal anywhere in the very large patch of sky covered by the ATA.

However, we have not yet covered the full range of frequencies in which the signal could be located, if it’s of far narrower bandwidth than the Russian 1 GHz receiver.  We intend to completely cover this big swath of the radio dial in the next day or two.  A detection, of course, would immediately spur the SETI and radio astronomy communities to do more follow-up observations.

We will continue to monitor this star system with the Array.

Then you have Eric Korpela who works at SETI being a damp squib in this forum post.
Fair enough really. :D

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=80193

Quote

I'm sure that many of you have seen the news reports of a "SETI signal" detected from the star HD 164595

I was one of the many people who received the the email with the subject "Candidate SETI SIGNAL DETECTED by Russians from star HD 164595 by virtue of RATAN-600 radio telescope." Since the email did come from known SETI researchers, I looked over the presentation. I was unimpressed. In one out of 39 scans that passed over star showed a signal at about 4.5 times the mean noise power with a profile somewhat like the beam profile. Of course SETI@home has seen millions of potential signals with similar characteristics, but it takes more than that to make a good candidate. Multiple detections are a minimum criterion.

Because the receivers used were making broad band measurements, there's really nothing about this "signal" that would distinguish it from a natural radio transient (stellar flare, active galactic nucleus, microlensing of a background source, etc.) There's also nothing that could distinguish it from a satellite passing through the telescope field of view. All in all, it's relatively uninteresting from a SETI standpoint.

But, of course, it's been announced to the media. Reporters won't have the background to know it's not interesting. Because the media has it, and since this business runs on media, everyone will look at it. ATA is looking at it. I assume Breakthrough will look at it. Someone will look at it with Arecibo, and we'll be along for the ride. And I'll check the SETI@home database around that position. And we'll all find nothing. It's not our first time at this rodeo, so we know how it works.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.