http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341

Some snippets of this story that has a lot of familiar names in it (link has been mirrored on Drudge Report so it will doubtless go to other media and the SAH guys are probably going to be deluged with questions... the NewScientist article is "slashdotted" right now.)

Edit: it's "slashdotted" due to... Slashdot! Should have guessed.

Here's another version of it: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1028302004

-----
"“It’s the most interesting signal from SETI@home,” says Dan Werthimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home. “We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."
...
Named SHGb02+14a, the signal has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This happens to be one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy."
...
“We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’,” says UCB researcher Eric Korpela, who completed the analysis of the signal in April. “This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant.
...
"What is more, if telescopes are observing a signal that is drifting in frequency, then each time they look for it they should most likely encounter it at a slightly different frequency. But in the case of SHGb02+14a, every observation has first been made at 1420 megahertz, before it starts drifting. “It just boggles my mind,” Korpela says."
...
David Anderson, director of SETI@home, remains sceptical but curious about the signal. ”It’s unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it.”
-----

Is this the now-famous WU? I think so: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/Candidates/SHGb02+14a/SHGb02+14a.html

Has any other radio observatory had a listen to rule out this being LO interference or anything else local to Arecibo?

Thanks for the discovery Shane Quinty.

Is this THE news, who knows?


The news is starting going around.
From Italy
From Germany


Greetings to all from Belgium.

Sorry to burst the bubble!


Astronomers deny ET signal report

Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal from ET.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3621608.stm

This story just got posted on CNN a half hour ago:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/02/space.signals.reut/index.html

Ok if this is true why havent they posted who crunched it on the seti website or atleast anounced it. At least I hope its true and not some joke to get more people to join
[url=http://usa.duane-n-lisa.net]

> Ok if this is true why havent they posted who crunched it on the seti website
> or atleast anounced it. At least I hope its true and not some joke to get more
> people to join
> [url=http://usa.duane-n-lisa.net]
> <IMG> SRC="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/seti2/stats.php/userID:1028/trans:off/.png">
>
>

quote from
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341

"It is already exciting for IT engineers Oliver Voelker of Logpoint in Nuremberg, Germany and Nate Collins of Farin and Associates in Madison, Wisconsin, who found the signal. "

> Sorry to burst the bubble!

No bubble to burst really... just an "interesting signal", but the media as usual doesn't emphasize that properly so it gets blown out of proportion.

I am still curious if anyone else at another radio facility has checked it out.

[/url]

Thanks Sir Ulli!

"It's all hype and noise,
we have nothing that is unusual.
It's all out of proportion."
Dan Werthimer, SETI@home

The End of pathetic telenovela. [/b][/url]

[/url]

I'm confused. One of the leading newspapers in Sweden reports that the signal has been re observed three times already. All in all, the signal material is about one minute long from these observations. The other thing (you say you have 15 million signal reports) is that this signal is on the 1420 megahertz band which makes it kind of unique, according to the newspaper.

You also mention that we probably won't look for this signal again. But a quote from Dan Wertheier mentions that they first of all not are more thrilled about this signal compared to others, but still will continue to observe it.

This is the exact quote in Swedish for reference:

"Vi hoppar inte jämfota, men vi fortsätter att observera den, säger Dan Wertheimer, chefsvetenskapsman för Seti."

You actually except me to believe that the SETI scientist have about 15 million examples of 1 minute long, signals transmitted on the 1420 megahearts band. (Which all have been reobserved 3 times)? Also it originates from a position in space where there are no known stars for at least 1000 light years away?

I think not.

It might not be anything at all, I give you that. But I do not belive that the scientists just throws this particular strong signal away since they have "15 million others"- cause if they do - we will for sure miss the real signal the day it comes.

Remember that the hydrogen band the frequency range is what SETI@Home looks at. So really, as far as we are concerned, the frequency is more or less irrelavent since we don't look at any other frequencies right now. While it may not be 15 million signals (although I wouldn't be surprised if there were), it certainly could be quite high since there is very little variation in the freqencies of recorded signals. This is especially true depending on the point where you begin calling something a signal. If you count every Gausian, pulse, triplet, and spike no matter how weak as a signal, then it would be quite easy to reach 15 million signal reports in a day considering the rate at which data is processed. It doesn't say the 15 million reports have all been observed 3 times. It just points out that there are 15 million reported signals that must be sifted through daily to find the best signals.

I think what this is saying that there are millions upon millions of signals recieved. And of those millions, so far this one has yielded the best results and has been repeated. But despite that, it still doesn't stand out that much because it could be a number of things. It could be something new, it might be an "echo" as mentioned as a possibility, it might just be a fluke, who knows? It may be something just as easily as anything else could be something. And in all honesty, I don't really think that a signal that is not repeated can even be ruled completely out. But unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done about that since "tracking" would be impossible even if it was determined the source was moving. In any case, I don't think they are throwing it out. They are just warning that is not nearly as exciting as it has been made out to be and that from a statistical standpoint at the very least, there is very little that sets it apart from others at this point. That doesn't mean it won't be observed again though. That is really the only logical step to take next with it. It may even be good to observe it for a longer period of time (in real time if possible) to get a better idea of what it is that is being looked at.

Chris

> I'm confused. One of the leading newspapers in Sweden reports that the signal
> has been re observed three times already. All in all, the signal material is
> about one minute long from these observations. The other thing (you say you
> have 15 million signal reports) is that this signal is on the 1420 megahertz
> band which makes it kind of unique, according to the newspaper.
>
> You also mention that we probably won't look for this signal again. But a
> quote from Dan Wertheier mentions that they first of all not are more thrilled
> about this signal compared to others, but still will continue to observe it.
>
> This is the exact quote in Swedish for reference:
>
> "Vi hoppar inte jämfota, men vi fortsätter att observera den, säger Dan
> Wertheimer, chefsvetenskapsman för Seti."
>
> You actually except me to believe that the SETI scientist have about 15
> million examples of 1 minute long, signals transmitted on the 1420 megahearts
> band. (Which all have been reobserved 3 times)? Also it originates from a
> position in space where there are no known stars for at least 1000 light years
> away?
>
> I think not.
>
> It might not be anything at all, I give you that. But I do not belive that the
> scientists just throws this particular strong signal away since they have "15
> million others"- cause if they do - we will for sure miss the real signal the
> day it comes.
>
>

from Dan Werthimer in Arecibo to SETI League

"Dr. H. Paul Shuch"
Inviato: Venerdì 03/09/2004 00:41:07 -0400
Oggetto: SETI public: False SETI@home alarm, courtesy of the press


SETIzens,
Today, I've received nearly a hundred emails about a three-time
SETI@home hit, reported in today's New Scientist. Sorry to throw a wet
blanket on this otherwise exciting announcement, but I have to tell you
the press attaches more significance to this observation than do the
astronomers themselves.
Here is the text of an email received today
from SETI@home director Dan Werthimer of U.C. Berkeley
(and now in Arecibo):


> it's a zero on the rio scale.

> from Dan Werthimer in Arecibo to SETI League

Thanks Bruno!

courtesy of the press

zero on the rio scale

LOL

Ok, then. I completley understand now. I think. :) Anyway, we most of the time seem to speak about THE signal and if you read most of the topics here you get the impression that we are looking for a strong signal, sent out to try to contact/reach other intelligent worlds.

For example this qoute, from Chief Scientist Dan Werthimer:

"A signal that drifts so quickly that it can only be heard for seconds at a time at a given frequency can only be detected by blind luck. Needless to say, such a transmission is an unlikely vehicle for message from an advanced civilization."

Why not, I ask? When the ISS (International space station that is) transmits something to earth they do not hold the send button for ever. Or do they? What I mean is the first signal we pick up might be a transmission not meant for us at all. But still out there, maybe sent by a moving object. Such a signal, especially a signal from 1000 light years away, will be very, very weak. And drop rapidly. To find such a signal will of course have very high odds against it. But so does finding ANY signal at all aslo.

If we don’t bother to look into the weakest of signals (please try to understand what I mean by weak, not the weakest but signals like the SHGb02+14a) we might as well stop right now. For more insight on this you should read the topic “Intergalactic messages 'in a bottle' are best”.

[/url]

S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©