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Wow! signal (detected on August 15, 1977)

Despite numerous follow-up searches and hypotheses (including brief consideration of reflections from space debris, interstellar scintillation, and comet hydrogen clouds), the signal has never recurred, and no explanation, terrestrial or otherwise, has been confirmed.

While some researchers have suggested it could represent an extraterrestrial transmission, its single occurrence and lack of replication limit the strength of this interpretation. The Wow! signal has inspired targeted searches, scientific discussion about rare astrophysical phenomena, and references in popular culture.

Wow! signal (detected on August 15, 1977)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signalOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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lemmy.world

Ehman said in 1994: "We should have seen it again when we looked for it 50 times. Something suggests it was an Earth-sourced signal that simply got reflected off a piece of space debris. He later somewhat recanted his skepticism, after further research showed the unrealistic requirements that a space-borne reflector would need to have to produce the observed signal. The signal's frequency of 1420 MHz is also part of a protected spectrum, a frequency range reserved for astronomical research in which terrestrial transmissions are forbidden, although a 2010 study documented several instances of terrestrial sources either interfering from adjacent frequency bands or illegally transmitting within the spectrum

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radix
lemmy.world

In my head canon for the Men in Black film, this was a signal sent to Elvis (who died the next day).

"Elvis is not dead. He just went home."

9
tal
lemmy.today

The precise location in the sky where the signal apparently originated is uncertain due to the design of the Big Ear telescope, which featured two feed horns, each receiving a beam from slightly different directions, while following Earth's rotation. The Wow! signal was detected in one beam but not in the other, and the data was processed in such a way that it is impossible to determine which of the two horns received the signal.[15] There are, therefore, two possible right ascension (RA) values for the location of the signal (expressed below in terms of the two main reference systems):[16]

From Midway portraying the attack on Pearl Harbor:

https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/midway-2019.pdf?v=1729114953

Halsey glances at CAPTAIN MILES BROWNING, his operations and war plans officer.

HALSEY

Pearl found something?

CAPTAIN BROWNING

Yes, sir. Intelligence managed to get a radio fix on the attacking fleet. Unfortunately, it's a bilateral reading. Meaning the Japs are either at 363 degrees...

Browning points down at the map table, his finger tracing a line due north of Pearl Harbor on the chart.

CAPTAIN BROWNING (CONT'D)

...or 163 degrees.

Browning traces a second line heading due south. Halsey's face wrinkles in disgust.

HALSEY

For Christ sake... Pearl is under attack, and we don't even know if the bastards are north or south?

You never think that having a radio system with directional ambiguity built in will matter much until all of a sudden, you receive a single instance of a signal when you really really want to know where it's coming from, and desperately wish that you'd spent the extra to not have that limitation.

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JohnnyEnzymereply
piefed.social

Oof, that link's terribly riddled with adware / javascripts.

Got a good one?

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Davel23reply
fedia.io

I've got all that stuff blocked, so I don't know a clean link from a bad one. Try this one:

https://phl.upr.edu/wow/summary

If that one doesn't suit you, try a google (or your search engine of choice) search for "wow signal maser".

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BaroqueInMind
piefed.social

Is this where the Zoomers are getting their "6 7" meme? I still do not understand that meme.

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Famkoreply
lemmy.world

There is no deeper meaning to "6 7" despite what people say the origin of it is.

The only purpose of it is to signal that you are in the in-group of people who say "6 7" and are able to laugh at the nonsensical nature of it (while also laughing at people who are annoyed by it).

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BaroqueInMindreply
piefed.social

But the numbers 6 and 7 are literally circled in the official image on the wiki page. It's just a coincidence? I do not understand.

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Famkoreply
lemmy.world

I haven't, I just thought about this since one of my friends gets really annoyed by 6 7 so I tried to explain it to him somehow, while also annoying him a little.

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