Slashdot Mirror


News Of SETI Signal Just Bad Reporting

The Bad Astronomer writes "Rumors have been flying in recent days that the SETI project has received a strong signal from space, indicating the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Bad Astronomy breaks down the origins of this (false) claim, which mostly amounts to a heaping helping of shoddy journalism. 'I just talked to Dan Wertheimer, the astronomer quoted in the article. He told me that the original interview was about sending signals into space (so-called active SETI) as opposed to just listening for aliens. After the interview, he talked to the reporter about some of the astronomy he does, including looking at what are called radio transients: bursts of radio waves that are seen once and never repeat. These may come from one-off events like colliding neutron stars, exploding stars, and so on. Somehow, in the article the reporter mixed up the observation of the transient signals with detecting a signal from E.T.'"

1 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Must be aliens by J3rryken · · Score: 1, Troll

    its not the first time SETI covered up earlier signals they actually received multiple 'wow' signals on the same spot with a pattern after someone from SETI got the word out some dudes appear at SETI and they had to sign papers to shut up