SoylentNews

takyon writes:

We do not know the origin of these signals but there are three main possible explanations: they could be (1) emissions from Ross 128 similar to Type II solar flares, (2) emissions from another object in the field of view of Ross 128, or just (3) burst from a high orbit satellite since low orbit satellites are quick to move out of the field of view. The signals are probably too dim for other radio telescopes in the world and FAST is currently under calibration.

Each of the possible explanations has their own problems. For example, Type II solar flares occur at much lower frequencies and the dispersion suggests a much farther source or a dense electron field (e.g. the stellar atmosphere?). Also, there are no many nearby objects in the field of view of Ross 128 and we have never seen satellites emit bursts like that, which were common in our other star observations. In case you are wondering, the recurrent aliens hypothesis is at the bottom of many other better explanations.

[...] UPDATE 2017/07/17: We successfully observed Ross 128 last night from the Arecibo Observatory. It was raining during the observations but this has a minimal effect on the C-band. SETI Berkeley with the Green Bank Telescope and SETI Institute's ATA joined our observations. We need to get all the data from the other partner observatories to put all things together for a conclusion. Probably by the end of this week.

Astronomers don't know what's causing these weird radio waves from a nearby star

Strange Signals from the Nearby Red Dwarf Star Ross 128

Original Submission