smart life? Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Proxima Centauri’s “Strange Signal”

Astronomers have discovered the origin of the mysterious BLC1 signal, which was captured in 2019 by the Breakthrough Listen project’s radio telescope.

At first, it was considered that the signal could have originated from an unknown astrophysical process or it was possible strange civilization, but further research has shown that BLC1 is likely to be an interfering with terrestrial origin. You are Results This study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The signal was detected during an analysis of radio observations from Proxima Centrauri, conducted by the Australian Parks Observatory. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun and is located at a distance of only 4.22 light years from Earth, progress Phys.org portal.

The star has an exoplanet called Proxima Centauri B Which, perhaps, is also rocky, like our planet, and is located in a habitable zone, which is why the mysterious sign created a lot of intrigue. The astronomers determined that BLC1 came from this direction and was narrow-banded.

“Today we are ready to report that BLC1, unfortunately, is not a signal of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Instead, it is radio interference that perfectly mimics the type of signal we were looking for,” the researchers note.

BLC1 aroused the interest of astronomers, as it had clear signs of a technological origin, that is, it was created by technology. Its spectrum is about one gigahertz (GHz), which does not reproduce any astrophysical objects of natural origin.

Another sign for scientists is that the frequency of mysterious sign It slowly changed over the course of five hours. The BLC remained for several hours, which distinguished it from interference from satellites and aircraft. Therefore, all data indicated that the signal is of exotic origin.

However, scientists searched the entire frequency range and found similar signals on Earth, the properties of which, according to the authors, are mathematically related to BLC1.

“We don’t know exactly where BLC1 came from, or why it was not detected in out-of-source observations as similar signals. Our best guess is that BLC1 and similar signals are created by a process called intermodulation, where frequencies mix together to create new interference,” concludes the research.