JIM TEDDER: But just as suddenly as the signal had started, it stopped. And it has never been found again. So, what was it? What might it have been? Those questions have been on the mind of Robert Gray for years. He is an astronomer who recently finished work on a book called “The Elusive Wow.” He says that the information gathered in Ohio in nineteen seventy-seven looks exactly like a radio signal. He also says it is not likely that an airplane or a satellite was the cause.
Mr. Gray found that the “Wow” signal was very close to the number of vibrations per second of hydrogen when it gives off light. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. So some scientists think an intelligent alien would use its “glow frequency” as a radio signal. But why did the signal suddenly appear and then just as quickly disappear?
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Robert Gray calls that the “lighthouse effect.” If you were on a ship at sea and saw a lighthouse beam in the distance, it would appear to come and go across the night sky. It would not stay in one place. Mr. Gray says that might describe what aliens would do. They would sweep a radio signal to different parts of the sky, rather than just send it to one place. That way it might be seen, or heard, by more telescopes in many different places.
Mr. Gray thinks that in a hundred years, scientists will have far better equipment to examine the distant stars. We might be able to look at the entire known universe at one time instead of just examining such a small part of it. That should increase the chances that we will hear from our distant neighbors -- if they are out there.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25