Australian telescope picked up a strange and constant signal from space

Astronomers who hunt on possible radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations picked up a striking signal in the spring of 2019 coming from the (global) direction of the star Proxima Centauri. Proxima, with a distance of just over four light-years, is the closest neighbor to our sun and has at least two planets.

A scientific publication on the discovery is expected in January, but the news has already leaked to The Guardian. The radio signal, with a frequency of almost exactly 980 megahertz, is registered with the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. The data received by this instrument have not yet been released – its analysis is still ongoing.

The Parkes radio telescope is part of the Breakthrough Listen project designed to detect artificial radio signals from outside our solar system. Unusual signals are picked up on the assembly line, but most of them can soon be associated with Earth sources or with cosmic objects that are already known to produce radio radiation, such as our sun.

As far as we know, the researchers have not yet been able to find a plausible explanation for the signal recorded in 2019, which has not been observed since. But even if such an explanation is not found, it is considered very unlikely that the radio signal, which was given the BLC1 designation, came from aliens.

Meanwhile, of course, the internet is full of speculation and discussions.