Ohio State SETI Wow Signal Revisited and Debunked

An anonymous reader writes "SETI's famous 1977 'Wow' signal has been discredited in the Astrophysical Journal, using the University of Tasmania Hobart 26 m radio telescope to search for intermittent and possibly periodic emissions at the 'Wow' locale. Of the many 'maybes' that SETI has turned up in its four-decade history, none is better known than the brief, powerful one that was discovered in August, 1977, in Columbus, Ohio. Marked by the signal's rise from zero, to '30-sigma' over background noise, and back to zero in 37 seconds, the famous Wow signal was found as part of a long-running sky survey conducted with Ohio State University's 'Big Ear' radio telescope. To quote from their article in The Astrophysical Journal, Robert Gray and Simon Ellingsen, of Australia's University of Tasmania, 'no signals resembling the Ohio State Wow were detected...' So until and unless the cosmic beep measured in Ohio is found again, the 'Wow' signal will remain a 'What' signal."

Comments

To His Excellency Lord Vogon:

[orthogonal]

SETI's famous 1977 'Wow' signal has been discredited in the Astrophysical Journal

Your most Fearsome Bearer of the Sixteen Tenctacles,
And Ruler of the Huizaw-Killish
LORD VOGON,
from your most humble servant
ZARALOAGLISH, Zaraloaglish,
Field Commander "Earth"

You see, Lord Vogon, as I told you, these humans are easily mislead.

All we had to do was plant the story in that Journal (and yes, we had to replace a few scientists with pod-humans, but that's just a matter of an abduction and some fertilizer for the pod), and the humans will now relegate the "Wow Signal" to a few references on the "X-Files" (which you'll remember my recruiting of Chris Carter got off the air) and some call-ins on Art Bell (I'm making arrangements for him this very Earth-day).

Soon the "Wow" signal will be no more remembered than that careless Ensign who mis-calibrated the Hyper-Dimensional Communicator and set it off in the first place. And thank you once again, that Ensign's tentacle-cluster was so tasty! So nice of you to send me the leftovers after you devoured the rest of him.

Through my continuing efforts, an article calling attention to the "debunking" of the "Wow" signal has been posted to a human web site called "Slashdot" (don't ask, don't ask!t).

Not only will this help to disguise our trail, it will futher discredit the few humans who suspect us by associating them with the Slashdot "tin-foil hat" crowd, anti-social paranoids who can find a "conspiracy" in their own microwave ovens. (But they never find in their pants! I apologize, Lord Vogon, a Earth-joke.)

In fact, I am writing a comment on the Slashdot article in another window, to further, as the humans say, "muddy the waters" -- and will post it as soon as I've finished this note to you.

Your humble servant,
Zaraloaglish,
Field Commander "Earth"