What was once assumed as a signal from Proxima Centauri was probably an echo from Earth. Scientists dedicated to hunting for signs of technology developed by extraterrestrial beings, also called technosignatures, believe one promising lead now seems like a false positive.
“Evidence suggests that the signal is interference from human technology, although we were unable to identify its specific source,” explains Sofia Sheikh with the Breakthrough Listen team.
Signals coming from outside solar system
The Breakthrough Listen initiative backs the search for alien intelligence, and in 2020 team members using the Parkes telescope claimed to have received a mysterious signal when they pointed the telescope at Proxima Centauri, the nearest known planet outside our solar system.
However, after analyzing the signal, it began to look much less alien, said Andrew Siemion, who leads Listen’s science team. “In the case of this particular candidate,” Siemion says, “our analysis suggests it’s highly unlikely that it is really from a transmitter out at Proxima Centauri. However, this is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing signals we’ve seen to date.”
“The signals are spaced at regular frequency intervals in the data, and these intervals appear to correspond to multiples of frequencies used by oscillators that are commonly used in various electronic devices,” Sheikh added.
It’s not a signal from aliens
Their analysis can be found in two new papers published in the journal Nature Astronomy. Yet again, after years of hunting the signs of alien life in the cosmos, the result is still “it’s not aliens.” But Breakthrough Initiatives Executive Director Pete Worden believes the latest report can come in handy to fine-tune the process of filtering false positives.
“While we were unable to conclude a genuine technosignature, we are increasingly confident that we have the necessary tools to detect and validate such signatures if they exist.”
Recently, Dr. Zaza Osmanov, an associate physics professor at the Free University of Tbilisi said China’s new radio telescope could detect massive swarms of self-replicating alien robots before they attack our planet. The country has developed a five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST).
