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
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The mundane explanation for an apparent signal detection in the vicinity of Ross 128 is backed by an analysis of the Arecibo Observatory's data:
A strange radio signal that seemed to emanate from a small nearby star probably came from Earth-orbiting satellites, astronomers say. Late last week, researchers announced that, on May 12, the 1,000-foot-wide (305 meters) Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico detected a bizarre radio signal in the vicinity of Ross 128, a red dwarf star that lies just 11 light-years from Earth.
[...] "The best explanation is that the signals are transmissions from one or more geostationary satellites," Abel Mendez, director of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico, wrote in a statement today (July 21). (Geostationary satellites circle Earth at an altitude of about 22,300 miles, or 35,800 kilometers.)
"This explains why the signals were within the satellite's frequencies and only appeared and persisted in Ross 128; the star is close to the celestial equator, where many geostationary satellites are placed," Mendez added. "This fact, though, does not yet explain the strong dispersion-like features of the signals (diagonal lines in the figure); however, it is possible that multiple reflections caused these distortions, but we will need more time to explore this and other possibilities."
There is no news signal in this submission.
Previously: Strange Signals From the Nearby Red Dwarf Star Ross 128
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:37AM (2 children)
The nigger whales are coming to probe us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:54AM (1 child)
It's good to know that you think the whales from startrek IV where black but really if they had not probed us we will all be dead in the 24th century
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:09AM
Black stars [wikipedia.org] may exist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:39AM (5 children)
Seriously Mulder has already been there we all know it's been shut down since the late 80's and our conversion to the black oil was only narrowly averted
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:43AM (4 children)
Trump would have tweeted about UFOs by now... so, no.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:49AM (2 children)
No it was clinton that promised to be transparent about aliens
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/area-51-files-hillary-clinton-us-election-2016-aliens-jimmy-kimmel-a6955221.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:48AM
Trump has a big fat covfefe mouth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:57AM
It was John Podesta's idea. Even discussed in some of the leaked emails.
Instead of disclosure Trump will use the alien technology to bomb ISIS.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @11:35PM
Why would the people covering it up tell the biggest stupidest loudmouth there was? If they have kept the secret this long they can't be idiots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @03:45AM (2 children)
Seriously people need what off axis RADIO ASTRONOMY? I think you over estimate our chances.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday July 18 2017, @07:53PM (1 child)
What is being asked here, as in in your post? I have no idea.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @09:45PM
GP could be one of those negotiation AIs.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:20AM (1 child)
They just forgot to hang up the phone.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday July 18 2017, @07:49PM
Boo, bah, beep! The other also-person has cleared.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Tuesday July 18 2017, @06:07AM (1 child)
And here I saw ten comments on an astrophysics post, and I thought, SoylentNews might be worthwhile after all! But, not.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:12AM
So, after deciding that the ten posts were worthless, you decided it's time to add an eleventh worthless post?
But then, at least one comment [soylentnews.org] wasn't useless, as it informed me of the (up to now unknown to me) concept of a black star.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday July 18 2017, @06:45PM
Using simple radios and non-directional antennas, with the cooperation of the ionosphere and rotation of the earth vs orbit of jupiter (and io) its pretty easy to pick up radio noise from Jupiter.
https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/library/sci_briefs/decametric.htm [nasa.gov]
The universe being big, anything we seen is replicated out there somewheres bigger and cooler, so the idea of something like jovian radio interference but 1000x louder certainly exists somewhere its just a matter of finding it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 19 2017, @01:42AM
Hey astronomy pukes, show us a graph! Then show us the most similar looking noise sources. How hard is that? Blah blah blah is not the way to make science interesting.