

Wow signal - tshtf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal

======
pook
What is interesting is that this is precisely the kind of signal that SETI is
looking for. Yet, by its very nature, such signals would be almost impossible
to intercept a second time: what are the odds our planet would stumble back
into the beam?

In reality, an Ophiuchi Hotline would be damnably frustrating.

A similarly interesting and incredibly frustrating signal:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop>

~~~
mseebach
Why would an alien intelligence randomly throw a beam around so we're only in
it for a few minutes? I think I've read that when we do the same, we pick out
a likely place, and track that while broadcasting - exactly for this reason:
the reception need to be long enough that you can confirm that it's an actual
signal and tune to it so you can actually see what it says.

~~~
omellet
If it is indeed extra terrestrial, it's possible that it wasn't deliberately
broadcast to us.

~~~
SeamusBrady
Exactly, or maybe not broadcast by the dominant players! The speculative
possibilities for this are huge - if we assume that the Zoo Hypothesis for the
Fermi Paradox is correct
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#Earth_is_purposel...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#Earth_is_purposely_isolated_.28The_zoo_hypothesis.29))
you could theorise that some renegade alien scientific faction tried to
communicate with us before being obliterated by the dominant civilisation in
our part of the Milky Way.

No proof, but a delicious tantilizing thought :)

~~~
mortenjorck
Here's my problem with the Zoo Hypothesis:

You know how hard it is for us to find them in all that immense, inconceivable
vastness of space? It's probably just about as hard for them to find us.

Space is not indexed. It's not made of octrees. To find something, you have to
get within radio signaling range in 3D space, of which there is more than any
being smaller than a solar system cannot realistically comprehend. If anything
else intelligent out there is also bound to the same dimensions as us, and
exists at a scale where they inhabit a planet of any type, there's pretty much
no way we should ever know about each other unless we already get each others'
radio pollution.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Von Neumann machines, set to disperse and report back, could search the galaxy
in a fairly short amount of time - well, a few tens of thousands of years, but
that's not inconceivably long for a civilization that would undertake this
project.

~~~
pmiller2
I'd estimate it's more like millions of years. Our galaxy is (according to
Wikipedia) 100000 light-years in diameter, and we live pretty close to the
outer edge. Given that those Von Neumann machines would be limited to a
velocity of less than c, that means fully exploring the galaxy will take a
long time, indeed.

------
rauljara
'In his most recent writings, Ehman [the discoverer of the signal] resists
"drawing vast conclusions from half-vast data."'

------
mcantor
"The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-solar
system origin."

Where can I read about what these "hallmarks" are? The article is very
detailed about the interpretations of the signal, but it never explains why
the signal itself is really that interesting in the first place, besides its
high intensity. What about the signal made it uniquely suited to potentially
artificial, extra-terrestrial origins?

~~~
arethuza
Probably the fact that its frequency is close to the hydrogen line - which a
number of people have suggested is a "natural" frequency that could be used
for signaling over interstellar distances.

------
tzury
WOW!

