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No, SETI Has Not Detected Alien Signals From Space

Posted by Soulskill on from the feel-free-to-panic-anyway-though dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "Rumors are going around that SETI astronomers have detected possible alien signals from space. Bottom line: signals were detected when the Green Bank Telescope was pointed at target planets discovered by Kepler, but the signals are almost certainly interference from man-made satellites orbiting the Earth. This happens pretty often, so we need to be aware that these kinds of false positives pop up."

21 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. "almost certainly" by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, theres still a chance of aliens

    1. Re:"almost certainly" by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sure. It could very well be the original broadcasts of 'I Love Kleeg' and 'Zaxak's Island'. It might be quite good, if we could figure out their modulation scheme.

      Perhaps if we recklessly go about reverse engineering it and violating their intellectual property rights they'll send their lawyers to us with a C & D letter.

      I'm not quite certain that could be viewed as a positive development ... imagine making contact with a civilization where they'd excell at legal thinking and came here to practice law? could be a scary thing.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:"almost certainly" by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a smegging garbage pod!

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:"almost certainly" by geekoid · · Score: 4, Informative

      From those of is with speech issues, "Fuck You"

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:"almost certainly" by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, if we are alone, then Yes we ARE the "pinnacle of civilization".

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:"almost certainly" by macromorgan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Broadcast on all frequencies and all known languages, including Welsh.

      I thought you said known languages?

  2. Uh-huh by warrax_666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's just what the aliens want us to believe!

    --
    HAND.
  3. Re:Beh by discord5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's the North Koreans. They're up to something, sure as eggs is eggs.

    It is space saying mourning the honorable half-god Kim Jong Il's departure. Spontaneous radio broadcasts from space are known to happen when the heavens weep.

  4. Warning. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny


    Phil Plait is the official PR person for the Illuminati's Extra Terrestrial Embassy Group. The goal is to keep the occupation of Earth quiet until such a time that Their footsoldiers are placed at strategic positions around the world. Bodyguards for high ranking politicians and diplomats, military personnel, etc.

    He is NOT to be trusted.

  5. Oblig by should_be_linear · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new satellite-interference-simulating-before-landing-and-raping-us overlords.

    --
    839*929
  6. Call me an idiot ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you’re pointed at an alien transmitter, then moving the telescope will point you in a different direction, and the signal should go away. On the other hand, strong satellite signals can be detected by radio telescopes even when they point in another direction; the signal can leak into the telescopes even when you’re pointed well away.

    If you move a thousand miles and the source is a thousand light years away, the angular deviation is almost precisely zero.

    But if you move a thousand miles and the source is ten miles away, you're basically moving out of the source's way.

    So wouldn't you expect the signal to go away for a man-made satellite, and stay for an alien signal? That's the precise opposite of what they're saying.

    And if telescopes in any location, pointing to some specific direction, pick up the same satellite, surely they also pick it up when pointing to other stars? So this satellite that magically interferes with two different telescopes must be a real problem for those telescopes.

    Something smells fishy to me.

    1. Re:Call me an idiot ... by methamorph · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Idiot. :) They don't suggest that the telescope moves from one place on the earth to another (while keeping the same angle) but rather change the angle of the telescope that will cause the signal from a remote source to disappear.

    2. Re:Call me an idiot ... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you move a thousand miles and the source is a thousand light years away, the angular deviation is almost precisely zero.

      But if you move a thousand miles and the source is ten miles away, you're basically moving out of the source's way.

      So wouldn't you expect the signal to go away for a man-made satellite, and stay for an alien signal? That's the precise opposite of what they're saying.

      Side lobes. Radio transmitter antennas typically do not radiate in a perfectly spherical, cow shaped arrangement. There are strong lobes and weak (side lobes). If you track the signal through space, you should get a pretty good idea what the shape really is. You can compare that to the generalized, known shapes of the antenna radiation patterns are on various spacecrafts and get a pretty good idea if it's either a satellite or the most godawful giant radio transmitter the universe has ever seen.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:Call me an idiot ... by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 3, Funny

      Are we pointing at Epsilon Erindi? Could we be reading the Great Machine?

      --
      Huh?
  7. Really bad article by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, I had to really dig through the Berkeley web site to figure out what they were actually claiming. It's no wonder people are confused.

    It's as if I took pictures of some distant airplanes and posted a blog about taking pictures of UFOs, highlighting my pictures, and talked about how these pictures had all the confirming points I was looking for in a UFO picture, with a note at the bottom saying that, as I didn't have any actual UFO pictures, I substituted these.

    It would be hard to claim sympathy if I was then ridiculed, which I suspect they will be.

  8. Signal Partially Translated by knarfling · · Score: 5, Funny
    I have managed to obtain a copy of the signals and have partially translated them. Some of the concepts are untranslatable and I am not completely sure about the things I was able to translate, but here is what I have so far.

    My fellow [untranslatable]. It is [concept of time] for [choosing/electing] supreme [unknown concept]. My [friend/acquaintance/opponent] is a [feeble-minded/stupid] [weak/ineffective] [some sort of insect]. [Reminds me/makes me think] of a [not sure here, might be human]. I [pledge/promise] a [small animal] in [each/all/every] [cooking container]. I will [reduce/lower] [required payments/taxes]. [Elect/vote for] Kodos in [unknown time].

    Hmmm .... seems like a political speech. No intelligent life out there after all.

    --
    Great civilizations have lived and died on false theories. Don't mess up mine with a few facts.
    1. Re:Signal Partially Translated by CapOblivious2010 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I heard it was something like:

      Dear [Planetary Inhabitants], I am a [wealthy] [royalty] who is in need of your assistance in transferring a large amount of [monetary units] from my planet to yours. Please send me your [monetary management system]'s [identification schema] so that I may complete this transfer

  9. Get Seth by geekoid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    to do an interview on slashdot.

    Also, get their podcast. It's lame puns and excellent science

    http://radio.seti.org/

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  10. Signature of humanity by pclminion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Humans should module some very low bit-rate, spread spectrum, wide band signal onto every single transmission we generate, which identifies that transmission as being human in origin. In the future, if we detect a signal we can just check if this signature is there. If it is, question answered. If not, something interesting is happening.

  11. A sense of scale by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have photographed the Green Bank Radiotelescope a few times, that place is *massive*, pictures don't do it justice, I mean it's really friggin' big. Best I can show is this pic I took of the area http://plaguedbethyangel.blogspot.com/2011/10/closer.html I love it made the news (the GBR, not my pics) today

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
  12. Re:OK, so nobody has let us know abou them by Hartree · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, you're saying:

        1. Find aliens.

        2. Announce to world.

        3. ...

        4. ...

        5. Profit!