Wow! signal (nonfiction)

The Wow! signal.

On August 15, 1977, a strong narrowband radio signal was detected by astronomer Jerry R. Ehman while working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University, then located near the Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio.

The signal appeared to come from the constellation Sagittarius and bore the expected hallmarks of non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin.

Impressed by the result, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment Wow! on its side, which became the name of the signal itself.

The entire signal sequence lasted for the full 72-second window that Big Ear was able to observe it, but has not been detected since.

The signal has been the subject of significant media attention, and astronomers have tried many times in vain to detect it again.

Fiction cross-reference

• ENIAC (SETI)

In this photograph, researchers have visualized the "Wow Signal" by adapting the Trinity Project for use as a scrying engine, as part of the ENIAC ("Empty Noise Into Alien Communication") program.

External links

• Wow! signal @ Wikipedia