I found this article frustrating to read because of the lack of details, explanation, or attempts to educate the reader. Overall, it is just the reporting of speculation and nothing more.
That said, I wonder if this is the type of news source we need. Anyone who wants further details can and should research the topic before drawing conclusions like the pre-baked ones we usually receive from our news sources.
I think some posters here are missing that Caballero isn't trying to prove anything, they just made a few assumptions (if it was created by intelligent life, then...), looked for something that matched those assumptions, and selected a candidate star system for further consideration. I don't see anywhere that they are claiming this is in any way evidence for the assertion that the Wow! signal originated by intelligent life.
I think part of the issue is that the title is a bit clickbait-y. Sure, it’s technically a correct title, but at first glance it seems much more interesting than it actually is.
Yeah. It is a problem of allocating scarce resources: which exoplanets to study first? How could one answer, except using any probabilistic evidence here is. Anything resistant to explanation by 'mundane' phenomena but might be explained by an phenomenon Caballero is trying to find, is a good probabilistic evidence that could be used to narrow searching space.
I read the paper (1) and it's kind of pointless. There's no actual evidence of anything in this paper. It consists of a database search of stars in the WOW signal direction, finding one that is sort of like the Sun. It is unknown if this star even has any exoplanets. Many comments think there is an exoplanet, so let me emphasize that all that is known to exist is a star.
"Located in the right part of the sky" ... even one degree of horizon represents a huge area and the researcher admits that there are other targets in the area. I'd argue that the premise that the signal comes from an earth-like planet isn't even scientifically valid. Who says other life-forms are most likely to form on in an earth-like environment? Isn't that currently a sample size of one? Does life need a planet to exist? What if the signal came from an alien interstellar space-craft?
The only way to provide further analysis for this signal is to find it again.
I think there may be a probabilistic argument for some of these points.
While a sample size of one is not much, it's more than none. We know we have life on our planet, so we know it's possible in an earth like environment. So the only evidence we have points to earth like planets being more likely.
The interstellar space craft is of course possible, but since we don't have any ourselves, but we have radio for a while now, it seems more likely that the signal originated from a planet, since the interstellar space craft is much more complex technology for which we don't have evidence yet.
At least the comet hypothesis has some actual data to back it up, and the data matches the Wow! data. This current one assumes the signal must be from intelligent life and found a candidate that might possibly have intelligent life that might possibly have caused the Wow! signal, with no explanation for why said (possibly existing) intelligent life has not caused any additional signals since then. At least the comet explanation offers an explanation that fits the facts.
Wouldn't the power at the source of such a signal be so great as to cause harm to nearby life? If the "wow" signal actually originated from 2MASS 19281982-2640123, whatever life that may have been there is now probably gone.
2MASS 19281982-2640123 is 1800 light years away. Eh, maybe if ET has solved war and politics, they're still there. But it also implies WOW was not a response to our RF emissions, which are reaching at most 130 LY out today. This raises other questions. Were they broadcasting to every habitable planet in sight? We did that briefly.
Caballero went looking for a specific answer- a planet in the right place in the sky, with the right conditions- and found it. Therefore, this is proof the signal came from ET intelligence, right? But in science you should be going the opposite direction- start with the data and see what answer it leads to.
What's more, there's a big region of space the signal could have come from. Saying "any planet in that cone is the answer" isn't fair. There's just as likely to be thousands or millions more planets with equal properties further away inside the same cone.
A more fair experiment would be to say "ignoring the specific direction the 'Wow' signal came from, predict where it should have come from given the data we have"- and then if you find an answer that aligns with the source of the 'Wow', then you're onto something.
> In this paper it is analysed which of the thousands of stars in the WOW! Signal region could have the highest chance of being the real source of the signal, providing that it came from a star system similar to ours.
And that hypothesis he answers. So maybe not the best science the hypothesis is stated and a possible answer is given with many 'but if's' attached to it.
sort of on the same subject, lots of discussion has happened over the year of the few times we've intentionally transmitted signals into space, such as:
one thing people don't often think about... We have thousands of sites all around the world that transmit stuff to geostationary satellites all the time. Some of them are quite large and powerful (up to 1200W and 2000W power amplifiers on 11 meter size C-band dishes). When those signals are sent to a geostationary satellite, it's not like the signal stops at the satellite.
If a big earth station dish is aimed at a specific spot in geostationary and tranmits something, 99.999999% of that signal is going past the satellite and off into interstellar space, possibly to eventually be intercepted by aliens.
Wow signal has been pretty conclusively shown to be the reflected spectra of hydrogen out gassing from a comet core. The actual comet in question has been found and similar signals detected. OP didn’t get the memo I guess.
> This hypothesis was dismissed by astronomers, including members of the original Big Ear research team, as the cited comets were not in the beam at the correct time. Furthermore, comets do not emit strongly at the frequencies involved, and there is no explanation for why a comet would be observed in one beam but not in the other
[+] [-] mellosouls|5 years ago|reply
1. The Wow! signal is intelligent in origin.
2. This exoplanet system here is in an area the signal might have come from.
3. It looks a bit like our system so might have intelligent life.
This sounds like more of a moonshot for believers rather than a thoroughly scientific investigation.
[+] [-] partisan|5 years ago|reply
That said, I wonder if this is the type of news source we need. Anyone who wants further details can and should research the topic before drawing conclusions like the pre-baked ones we usually receive from our news sources.
[+] [-] satisfaction|5 years ago|reply
The author does not claim the signal is intelligent.
[+] [-] AnIdiotOnTheNet|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monkpit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ordu|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kens|5 years ago|reply
(1) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.06090.pdf
[+] [-] sushshshsh|5 years ago|reply
I am completely disgusted by the HN tone of "it's pointless to look at this because there are potential flaws"
[+] [-] smoyer|5 years ago|reply
The only way to provide further analysis for this signal is to find it again.
[+] [-] carlmr|5 years ago|reply
While a sample size of one is not much, it's more than none. We know we have life on our planet, so we know it's possible in an earth like environment. So the only evidence we have points to earth like planets being more likely.
The interstellar space craft is of course possible, but since we don't have any ourselves, but we have radio for a while now, it seems more likely that the signal originated from a planet, since the interstellar space craft is much more complex technology for which we don't have evidence yet.
[+] [-] geocrasher|5 years ago|reply
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-wow-mystery-space.html
I think that if a person goes looking hard enough for the answer they want, they'll find it.
[+] [-] prewett|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anonymousiam|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imglorp|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yummybear|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] valuearb|5 years ago|reply
Hutz: Well, Your Honor. We’ve plenty of hearsay and conjecture. Those are KINDS of evidence.
[+] [-] sushshshsh|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mabbo|5 years ago|reply
Caballero went looking for a specific answer- a planet in the right place in the sky, with the right conditions- and found it. Therefore, this is proof the signal came from ET intelligence, right? But in science you should be going the opposite direction- start with the data and see what answer it leads to.
What's more, there's a big region of space the signal could have come from. Saying "any planet in that cone is the answer" isn't fair. There's just as likely to be thousands or millions more planets with equal properties further away inside the same cone.
A more fair experiment would be to say "ignoring the specific direction the 'Wow' signal came from, predict where it should have come from given the data we have"- and then if you find an answer that aligns with the source of the 'Wow', then you're onto something.
[+] [-] consp|5 years ago|reply
> In this paper it is analysed which of the thousands of stars in the WOW! Signal region could have the highest chance of being the real source of the signal, providing that it came from a star system similar to ours.
And that hypothesis he answers. So maybe not the best science the hypothesis is stated and a possible answer is given with many 'but if's' attached to it.
pdf: https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.06090
[+] [-] walrus01|5 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_message
one thing people don't often think about... We have thousands of sites all around the world that transmit stuff to geostationary satellites all the time. Some of them are quite large and powerful (up to 1200W and 2000W power amplifiers on 11 meter size C-band dishes). When those signals are sent to a geostationary satellite, it's not like the signal stops at the satellite.
If a big earth station dish is aimed at a specific spot in geostationary and tranmits something, 99.999999% of that signal is going past the satellite and off into interstellar space, possibly to eventually be intercepted by aliens.
[+] [-] rurban|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m3kw9|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] heyflyguy|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] therealbilly|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] garmaine|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JetSetWilly|5 years ago|reply
> This hypothesis was dismissed by astronomers, including members of the original Big Ear research team, as the cited comets were not in the beam at the correct time. Furthermore, comets do not emit strongly at the frequencies involved, and there is no explanation for why a comet would be observed in one beam but not in the other
So, not actually conclusively shown at all.
[+] [-] bcraven|5 years ago|reply
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-wow-mystery-space.html