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Unexplained signals

Radio astronomers have been listening for signals from alien civilizations for decades. A few times they received something that matched expectations – a strong, narrowband signal from one direction – but none was repeated in later observations. Some puzzles were solved in surprising ways: the mysterious “perytons” turned out to come from a microwave oven in the observatory building.

cases
6
years
1977–2019

Unexplained: 2 Disputed: 1 Explained: 3

  1. 1970–1979

    1. 1977 Unexplained signals · Unexplained Wow! Signal Big Ear radio telescope, Delaware, Ohio, United States In August 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope received a strong narrowband signal from the constellation Sagittarius – it lasted 72 seconds and never recurred.

  2. 1990–1999

    1. 1997 Unexplained signals · Explained Bloop – A Sound from the Depths of the Pacific South Pacific Ocean, west of the southern tip of South America In 1997, NOAA hydrophones repeatedly recorded a powerful ultra-low-frequency sound in the Pacific, audible thousands of kilometers away.
    2. 1998–2015 Unexplained signals · Explained Perytons at the Parkes Radio Telescope Parkes Observatory, New South Wales, Australia For 17 years, the Parkes radio telescope recorded brief radio bursts resembling signals from space – their source turned out to be a microwave oven.

  3. 2000–2009

    1. 2001 Unexplained signals · Disputed Lorimer Burst – The First Fast Radio Burst Parkes Observatory, New South Wales, Australia In 2007, a millisecond radio burst from 2001 was found in archival Parkes data – the first known fast radio burst from beyond our Galaxy.

  4. 2010–2019

    1. 2018 Unexplained signals · Unexplained Mysterious Radio Pulses of GLEAM-X J1627 Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope, Western Australia, Australia A radio source found in 2018 data flared for about a minute every 18 minutes for several weeks – it fits no known type of object.
    2. 2019 Unexplained signals · Explained BLC1 – A Signal from the Direction of Proxima Centauri Parkes Observatory, New South Wales, Australia In 2019, the Parkes radio telescope picked up a narrowband signal from the direction of the nearest star – it turned out to be interference from devices on Earth.