Radio signals picked by Russian telescope are from Earth, not aliens

A strong signal picked up by a Russian telescope turned out to be not from a star 95 light-years from Earth. Scientists from the SETI Institute say it was a false alarm because the signals came from Earth.

The signals likely came from an old Soviet military satellite, reports Newatlas. The signal had a band width of 1 GHz, a billion times wider than the bandwidth which SETI uses. The signal’s strength was 0.75 Jansky.

A mobile phone about one kilometre away have a signal strength of 110 Janskys. If it came from a source 94 light-years away, it should be stronger from its point of origin. If broadcast to all directions, the scientists estimate the signal should have used 10²⁰ watts, while if it was directly beamed at Earth, it would need a trillion watts.

When SETI pointed the Allen Telescope Array at HD 164595 on Aug 28 and 30 in an attempt to locate the signal, it yielded negative results. Alexander Ipatov, director of the Institute of Applied Astronomy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, explains the signal came from an old Soviet military satellite. The Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences confirms Ipatov’s statement.

The signal was initially observed by the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchuskaya, located at the northern foot of the Caucasus Mountains. They experts initially thought the signals came from HD 164595, a solar system with one planet about the size of Neptune in a very tight orbit, which makes it very unattractive for life. But the possibility remains the solar system could have undiscovered planets.

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Source: GeoBeats News