
Powerful Radio Signal from Deep Space - enigami
https://www.sciencealert.com/periodicity-has-been-detected-in-a-repeating-fast-radio-burst
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agoodthrowaway
One thing that I wonder is whether we could ever identify an alien
communication signal as an alien signal is likely to be much more advanced. In
that scenario, the alien civilization is likely to be able to send their
signal at the Shannon limit. Additionally an advanced civilization is likely
to be sending signals optically instead of over radio waves. But even if we
assume radio waves, Shannon says that the you can send the most information
when using a random code. As you approach the Shannon limit the signal becomes
more noise-like as the encoding tends towards random. So it’s entirely
possible an alien signal is likely to look like pure noise to us and hence we
may miss a true alien signal.

~~~
dvh
It's too short for communication. I think it's burst of particles that are
released when spaceship goes out of warp.

[https://www.universetoday.com/93882/warp-drives-may-come-
wit...](https://www.universetoday.com/93882/warp-drives-may-come-with-a-
killer-downside/)

16 day regular cycle is because it's regular transfer between two planets.
Other FRBs are random because they are just random ships on random research
routes.

~~~
syshum
Or they are heading straight for us but can only stay in warp for 16 days at a
time.

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lovelearning
More like "powerful radio emissions from deep space". The paper doesn't use
the term "signal" at all, and a website dedicated to science probably
shouldn't have either (although it did help bait my click).

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thdrdt
I think the click-bait title is the reason why most comments here are about
aliens.

Also because it has a set interval. People like to assume there is some
intelligent life form that trigger the events.

But on our own planet we have geysers that erupt at set intervals. All without
the help of an intelligent life form.

So I think it's more likely that it's a natural phenomena.

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pledess
Alternate explanation: there really aren't 12 silent days. They have (in
effect) a directional antenna that happens to be aimed at us on the 4 other
days. When it's not aimed at us, the signal is way below what
[https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/en/effelsberg](https://www.mpifr-
bonn.mpg.de/en/effelsberg) can detect.

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dmitripopov
Just imagine one day a true alien signal comes ringing, and what the public
reaction would be? "Yeah, right. Again."

~~~
jonny383
I guess it would depend how compelling the signal was. If it's just rogue
radio waves with seemingly intelligent structure that the average person
cannot understand, then the reaction would likely be "Yeah, right. Again".

If it's some kind of encoded message containing information that can be
decoded and verified by scientific communicators, perhaps not.

~~~
swsieber
If I were in charge of broadcasting a communication signal into space, I'd
make it a very obviously square wave, or something else that doesn't usually
occur on its own. So it really depends on if the signal was meant to be seen
as a discovery mechanism.

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sixdimensional
Sci fi daydream here.

What would it take for us to actually try to make such a signal ourselves in
space? Really huge explosions? I suppose one weird way to see if they could be
alien signals is see if we can imitate them.

Of course, that would be no guarantee that we aren’t just making bird calls
imitating the sounds of car alarms (or other birds for that matter). But, I
mean, if we can detect these signals, if we could generate one, maybe some
other civilization would too. And if we proved that any civilization of a
certain state could use the same technique, it would at least lend more
probability to the possibility that these are something not natural phenomena.

And who knows, when the alien armada invasion force shows up, you’d know for
sure it worked! Ah, such reckless abandon.

~~~
_1100
The Three Body Problem is a first-contact trilogy of books that starts just
like this:

Someone ponders what the most powerful thing in our area is (the sun) and then
finds a way to influence it just enough so that it can send repeating signals.
From there the alien armada heads our way and sets up the plot of the rest of
the trilogy!

~~~
runawaybottle
Would it really take an Armada? Coronavirus infected 40k people, we have some
of these viruses in labs. I’d send one agile team and drop a nice virus on
Earth (minimal viable product).

~~~
_1100
In the book, they start by sending as little as 3 protons, and it completely
debilitates humanity.

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DataGata
The protons as you call them are a fun quirk of the science fiction genre,
"How do we explain the Great Stagnation"? Fine Structure by Sam Hughes is the
first book I've ever seen do it.

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runawaybottle
What could create a natural radio signal in space?

Edit: I should have done some basic googling, turns out a few things:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_radio_source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_radio_source)

~~~
sizzzzlerz
The real question you should be asking is what doesn't. Radio signals are
generated in many ways at frequencies up and down the spectrum.

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Angostura
> an alien signal is likely to be much more advanced.

... and therefore they will probably think to themselves 'maybe we shouldn't
talk too fast and say things as simply as possible... if we want to increase
the likelihood of being understood'.

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magduf
Didn't we see a movie about this?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_\(1997_American_film\))

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HoustonRefugee
Intergalactic numbers station!

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mothsonasloth
Just think, whether this is an alien device or a quasar / celestial body
outputting this energy.

It is a truly terrifying level of radiation. I wouldn't like to be a planet in
a solar system near the origin of those bursts.

