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The Wow! signal was a strong radio signal picked up in August 1977 by an Ohio telescope searching for messages from other civilisations. It came from the direction of Sagittarius, and the astronomer checking the printout circled it and wrote 'Wow!' beside it. It has never been detected again.

Ohio, 15 August 1977

SpaceScience

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The telescope was Ohio State University's Big Ear, and the astronomer was Jerry Ehman, a volunteer on its search. The signal lasted 72 seconds, the time a fixed point in the sky took to drift across the telescope's view, and it sat near 1,420 megahertz, the radio frequency naturally given off by hydrogen, the commonest element in the universe. Scientists had suggested that frequency as one other civilisations might choose to call on. The printout recorded strength as letters and numbers, and the sequence '6EQUJ5' shows it rising to about 30 times the background noise. Big Ear and other telescopes have searched the same patch of sky many times without success. A 2017 idea that a passing comet caused it was rejected by other astronomers; a 2024 study suggested a hydrogen cloud briefly brightened by a burst of radiation, which is also unconfirmed.

Türkçe oku
Wow! sinyali, Ağustos 1977'de Ohio'daki bir radyo teleskobunun yakaladığı güçlü bir radyo sinyaliydi. Teleskop başka uygarlıklardan gelebilecek mesajları arıyordu; sinyal Yay takımyıldızı yönünden geldi. Çıktıyı inceleyen gökbilimci onu daire içine alıp yanına “Wow!” yazdı. Sinyal bir daha hiç yakalanamadı.
Ohio, 15 Ağustos 1977

Teleskop, Ohio State Üniversitesi'nin Big Ear adlı radyo teleskobuydu; gökbilimci ise bu aramada gönüllü çalışan Jerry Ehman'dı. Sinyal 72 saniye sürdü; bu, gökyüzünde sabit bir noktanın teleskobun görüş alanından geçmesi için gereken süredir. Frekansı, evrende en bol bulunan element olan hidrojenin doğal olarak yaydığı 1.420 megahertze çok yakındı. Bilim insanları, başka uygarlıkların iletişim için bu frekansı seçebileceğini öne sürmüştü. Çıktıda sinyalin gücü harf ve rakamlarla gösteriliyordu; “6EQUJ5” dizisi, gücün arka plandaki gürültünün yaklaşık 30 katına çıktığını gösterir. Big Ear ve başka teleskoplar gökyüzünün aynı bölgesini defalarca taradı ama bir şey bulamadı. 2017'de bir gökbilimci sinyali geçen bir kuyrukluyıldıza bağladı; diğer gökbilimciler bu açıklamayı kabul etmedi. 2024'te yayımlanan bir çalışma ise bir anlık ışınım patlamasıyla parlayan bir hidrojen bulutunu işaret etti; bu da kanıtlanmış değil.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Wow! signal
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