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Found on January 30, 2025 at 4:13 pm:

Could it be aliens? Scientists have discovered something strange in space! Astrophysicist Vladimir Surdin (video in Russian)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaIW1Zt308E

“The first radio signal from space was detected in 1973.”

I became interested in this ‘in 1973’, asked a question to Google and opened at 10:10 pm:

The mystery of the ‘Wow!’ signal revealed: A Natural explanation for the Mysterious Radio Signal (August 22, 2024, first link in Russian)

https://www.ixbt.com/news/2024/08/22/raskryta-tajna-signala-wow-estestvennoe-objasnenie-zagadochnogo-radiosignala.html

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-wow-deciphered-hydrogen.html

“In 1977, astronomers received a powerful, unusual radio signal from the constellation Sagittarius, which was called the ‘Wow! Signal’. This signal became public knowledge in the SETI world and caused a lot of excitement. Some thought it was of extraterrestrial origin and could have come from some kind of human-made interference, and some thought it could have been the result of an unexplained natural phenomenon.

The signal was detected by the ‘Big Ear’ radio telescope Ohio State University, which was used in the university's SETI Search for Extraterrestrial intelligence program from 1973 to 1995. This program is the longest running SETI program in history. <…>

New research shows that the ‘Wow!’ it has a very natural explanation.

A study called ‘Arecibo Wow! I: An Astrophysical Explanation for the Wow! Signal’ was conducted by Abel Méndez of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo.

The researchers found that the signal was caused by a sudden increase in intensity from stimulated hydrogen line radiation due to a strong short-term radiation source, such as a magnetar flare or a soft repeating gamma-ray burst (SGR) source.

The researchers also found that the ‘Wow!’ there was a brief increase in the brightness of one of several H1 (neutral hydrogen) clouds in the telescope's 'field of view'. The 1977 signal was similar to what Arecibo saw, in many ways. The only difference between the signals seen in Arecibo and the ‘Wow!’ – this is their brightness.

The researchers were able to identify the clouds responsible for the signal, but not the source. The results show that the source is much further away than the clouds that produce the hydrogen signal. This understanding can allow us to pinpoint the exact location of the signal's origin and ensure continuous monitoring of subsequent events.

The ‘Wow!’ initially, it was interpreted by many as a technosignature. By explaining where the signal came from, this study describes a new source. The researchers suggest that the signal may be the first recorded event of an astronomical maser flare in the hydrogen line.

The study also shows that signals like this can be detected using radio telescopes like Arecibo. Scientists found several signals similar to this one during observations from Arecibo between 2017 and 2020. These signals were less intense than ‘Wow!’ but had similar characteristics.”

Astronomers have found out the probable origin of the mysterious ‘wow’ signal from space (link in Russian)

https://hi-tech.mail.ru/news/113873-proishozhdenie-zagadochnogo-vau-signala-iz-kosmosa/

“The search for the source of radiation, which was sometimes attributed to extraterrestrials, took almost 50 years.

The history of the ‘wow’ signal stretches back to 1977, when it was discovered accidentally by the Big Ear radio telescope. Since then, such radio bursts have not been recorded, despite the improvement of technology. This has long led particularly romantic researchers to believe that the signal came from an alien civilization. However, a new study published in IFLScience shows that the mysterious signal most likely has a completely natural origin. <…>

Astronomers had tried many times to find the same signal, including by scanning the same patch of sky. But to no avail. Until scientists from the University of Puerto Rico began studying archived data from the Arecibo radio telescope. They discovered something intriguing in the dataset collected between 2017 and 2020. During that time, the observatory was monitoring nearby red dwarfs, searching for potentially habitable planets. But in several cases, a distinctive signal was detected.

The authors identified it as radiation from interstellar clouds of cold hydrogen. Light from red dwarfs hit these clouds, and the radio telescope recorded this moment. Scientists compared the frequency and characteristics of the bursts with the ‘wow’ signal and realized that they were dealing with the same radiation, although much less intense.

This allowed the researchers to conclude that in 1977, Big Ear accidentally recorded the same process. Only in this case, the cold cloud of hydrogen was illuminated not by a red dwarf, but by some short-term powerful pulse, for example, a flash from a magnetar – a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. This could explain the high intensity of the signal, as well as the fact that such bursts were no longer recorded – for this to happen, a combination of not very likely circumstances should occur: from the right moment of observation to the hydrogen cloud falling under the flare.”

Iconic Wow! signal may finally have an explanation (it's still not aliens) (August 20, 2024)

https://www.iflscience.com/iconic-wow-signal-may-finally-have-an-explanation-its-still-not-aliens-75619

It is curious that in 1977, a ‘signal from space’ was recorded, then it was not repeated, and after the final destruction of the Arecibo telescope in 2020, researchers took archival data from it for the period from 2017 to 2020 and finally found out that there was nothing extraordinary.

Arecibo (Radio Observatory, National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, NAIC, first link in Russian)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аресибо_(обсерватория)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Telescope

“The Arecibo main radio telescope was one of the largest single-aperture telescopes in the world. It was put into operation on November 1, 1963; on December 1, 2020, it collapsed as a result of wear and tear of the supporting structure.       <…>

The observatory has a 0.5 MW transmitter for conducting research under the radar astronomy program. With the help of this transmitter, the ‘Arecibo Message’ was sent on November 16, 1974. <…>

The destruction [of the telescope occurred in 2 stages, between which 3 years passed:]

[Prelude] In January 2014, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake caused damage to one of the cables, but it was repaired.

[Stage 1] On September 20, 2017, hurricane Maria snapped the 29-meter radar antenna of the radio telescope in half; its debris penetrated the main mirror of the telescope and damaged the auxiliary one.

[Stage 2] On August 10, 2020, during the Atlantic typhoon [hurricane] Isaiah, one of the steel cables attached to the three masts holding the radio wave receiver at an altitude of 137 meters burst; accordingly, the load on the remaining cables increased. The telescope's mirror was severely damaged by a burst cable that tore a hole about 30 meters long.

On November 7, one of the main steel supporting cables of the radio telescope broke, which destroyed part of the mirror itself. On November 19, NSF announced the decision to close the radio telescope.

On December 1, NSF reported the collapse of an 820-ton structure with receiving equipment on the main mirror of the radio telescope, which led to the destruction of the latter. <…>

Scientific contribution of the observatory [selected]

On November 16, 1974, a message to other civilizations was sent in the direction of the globular star cluster M13, located 25,000 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules.

According to experts, the failure of the Arecibo radio telescope actually put an end to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations.”

Farewell to Arecibo (link in Russian)

https://habr.com/ru/articles/529180/

“The Arecibo radio telescope, unlike many of its smaller counterparts, was not just an ‘ear’, it could also ‘speak’, i.e. work as a radar. This opened up unique opportunities for scientists-experimental astronomy. For the most part, astronomy is a passive science: scientists create scientific instruments and observe, collect signals and light that come to Earth naturally. Arecibo also shone in the radio range itself, and could receive reflected rays. So he managed to map Venus with a resolution of up to 1 km. More precisely, only the Soviet Venera and the American Magellan were able to create maps.”

Maria (hurricane)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria

“Entering the Caribbean Sea, Maria weakened slightly to a Category 4 hurricane due to land interaction with the island of Dominica, however it quickly restrengthened to a Category 5 hurricane and attained its peak intensity with winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a pressure of 908 mbar (hPa; 26.81 inHg) at 3:00 UTC on September 20 while southeast of Puerto Rico; this ranks it as the twelfth-most intense Atlantic hurricane since reliable records began. An eyewall replacement cycle caused Maria weaken to Category 4 strength before it made landfall near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico at 10:15 UTC (6:15 am local time) that day with winds of 155 mph (250 km/h) – the most intense to strike on the island since the 1928 San Felipe Segundo hurricane.”

At first I was interested in the possibly false information about 1973, then the next link linked to 2017, Arecibo, and a ‘similar signal’. Naturally, I went to the Wiki article about Arecibo, where I found out that the first serious destruction of this telescope occurred on September 20, 2017, which is 10 days after the end of my Fantastic Week.

Arecibo sent the first signal to space – ‘extraterrestrial civilizations’ – in 1974, interestingly, this is one of the main plot points of Liu Cixin's book “3 Body Problem”. And I'll remark (I noticed this on November 13, 2025, at 12:44 am) that on September 20, 2017, it was the Arecibo telescope's radar antenna that collapsed. That is, it was the part of the telescope that sent a signal into space in 1974.