ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Wow! Signal -- Have Extraterrestrials Responded To Our Radio Signals?

Updated on April 5, 2015
Au fait profile image

C. E. Clark has had a curiosity about the universe and other possible intelligent life there since she was about 10 years old.

You know how we have been sending radio signals out into the cosmos for decades hoping to contact intelligent life somewhere ‘out there?’ Yes, hoping to receive a response to our radio signals, because that would prove that intelligent life (besides what passes for our own) exists somewhere else in the universe besides here on planet Earth.

Guess what? We received a response all the way back on August 16, 1977! Here I have been interested in this subject since I was a young child, and I used to devour everything related to outer space and extraterrestrials, yet I had never heard about this thing called “The Wow! Signal.”

Since it happened so long ago, and since my research shows The Wow! Signal has been, according to Wikipedia, “the subject of significant media attention,” from the time it was received, I am wondering how many other people were unaware of this Wow! Signal, like myself.

All of my adult life having been an avid reader of magazines, and periodicals (Scientific America and the likes – not just Martha Stewart Living), and having watched the various network’s news daily (CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, etc.) when I still had a television, I have never heard of the Wow! Signal until just a few days ago. How did this Wow! Signal happen without my having heard about it!? I asked a few people over the last few days if they knew about it, and they said they had not heard of it before either.

National Geographic Is Publicizing the Wow! Signal and That Is Where I First Heard of It Just a Few Days Ago.

Then I thought if I had not heard about the Wow! Signal that happened nearly 35 years ago until recently, and several other people I know have not heard of it, then maybe there are other people around the world who may not have heard of it either. Maybe those of us who have not heard about this signal before are not alone – no pun intended.

For people not familiar with space alien talk, the often-used phrase, “we are not alone,” when talking about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, is quite common. You will often hear that question posed by someone with a Rod Serling like voice at the beginning of documentaries about space exploration.

On the chance that there are other people in the world as uninformed about this “Wow! Signal” as I have been, I decided to write a hub about it. I came across news of this Signal quite by accident or I would still not know about it. Being a news junkie, on most subjects, not only outer space and alien life, I am still puzzled as to how the media could have been so abuzz (as Wikipedia says they have been and still are), about this event without my hearing about it sooner.

This is a map showing where the Wow! Signal is believed to have originated in the universe.
This is a map showing where the Wow! Signal is believed to have originated in the universe. | Source
This is a photocopy of the original computer printout where Ehman wrote Wow! on the side and circled the signal.
This is a photocopy of the original computer printout where Ehman wrote Wow! on the side and circled the signal. | Source

What is the Wow! Signal? How did it get that name?

So lets backtrack a bit and determine first of all, what exactly is meant by the Wow! Signal?

The Wow! Signal was a strong narrowband radio signal observed by Jerry R. Ehman on August 16, 1977. Ehman was at the time of discovery working on a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project at the Big Ear radio telescope located at Perkin’s Observatory in Delaware, Ohio, at the Ohio Wesleyan University.

The Signal lasted for 72 seconds and had the distinctions scientists expected an extraterrestrial (not of this Earth) signal coming from an intelligent source outside of our solar system to have.

One thing that sets artificial (not occurring naturally) radio signals originating from an intelligent source apart from normal signals in space (static of sorts) is that they are usually narrow band. According to DoItYourself.com, “a narrow band radio system uses a point to point connection because the broadcast aims at numerous receivers within a specific region. The point-to-point communication station can operate only when needed. In other words, it does not just happen by itself. The narrow band system ensures more stable and longer connections than a wide band frequency can provide.”

Ehman was reportedly so amazed that the radio signal he had detected was a strong narrowband signal all but certain to have come from an intelligent source, that he circled the signal and wrote “Wow!” on the left side of the computer printout. This “wow!” became the name of the signal.

The numbers and letters Ehman circled indicate the intensity variation of the radio signal received. The original computer printout is preserved at the Ohio Historical Society.

What is SETI?

The abbreviation SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. It is the name under which many different people and organizations operate that are searching for intelligent life beyond the planet Earth.

Some of the best known projects are carried out by the University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, using a variety of different scientific methods to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Initially the U.S. government contributed to SETI projects, but more recently most funding comes from private sources.

What Have We Learned Since the First Signal Was Detected?

Despite searches by Ehman and other scientists in the 1980s and 1990s, the signal has never been picked up again. Wikipedia reports that “In 1995 and 1996, [Robert] Gray also searched for the signal using the Very Large Array [radio telescope], which is significantly more sensitive than Big Ear.

Gray and Simon Ellingsen later searched for recurrences of the event in 1999 using the 26m radio telescope at the University of Tasmania’s Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory. Six 14-hour observations were made at positions in the vicinity [where the original radio signal came from], but did not detect anything similar to the Wow! Signal.”

It seems we are no closer to solving the mystery of the Wow! Signal than we were when it was first detected and recorded.

E. T. Is Here!

Are extraterrestrials visiting Earth?  Are they already here?  Lots of credible people, including astronauts and former presidents to name a few, say yes!
Are extraterrestrials visiting Earth? Are they already here? Lots of credible people, including astronauts and former presidents to name a few, say yes! | Source
Did you know there is what appears to be a constructed monolith on Phobos, one of the moons that orbits Mars?
Did you know there is what appears to be a constructed monolith on Phobos, one of the moons that orbits Mars? | Source

© 2012 C E Clark

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)