by Charles Lear
It was recently announced that the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, the world’s largest until 2016, is beyond repair and will be demolished. It is an icon of modern astronomy on par with the Very Large Array (seen in the movie “Contact”) located in New Mexico, and the news has stirred an emotional response among many. For UFOlogists, the Arecibo telescope holds a special significance. It was from this telescope on November 16, 1974, that the first, scientist approved message intended for extraterrestrial intelligence was sent. It consists of a series of binary numbers that code for a graphic giving basic information about the chemistry of life on earth, human DNA, human form, and the telescope itself. The message was designed by Cornell astronomy professor Dr. Frank Drake, with input from others including Dr. Carl Sagan. If anyone ever responds, there are many out there listening, from radio astronomers to those specifically searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. But, there are those who believe the call has already been returned.
On Aug. 15, 1977, a strong intermittent signal was picked up by the Big Ear telescope in Delaware, Ohio. It lasted for 72 seconds and stood out in sharp contrast to the background noise. The signal was powerful and unusual and prompted astronomer Jerry Ehman to write “Wow!” next to the signal on a printout. The team focused on the area of the signal’s origin, but it never returned. Observatory Director John Krauss wrote to Carl Sagan that the “signal is highly suggestive of extraterrestrial intelligent origin, but little more can be said until it returns for further study.”
It never did return, but there has been a recent discovery in the area of our galaxy that produced it. Kraus and his team had looked for Sun-like stars there and found none. Now, thanks to Gaia, a European Space Agency space observatory, 1.3 billion stars have been mapped, enabling the creation of the most detailed 3D map of our galaxy to date. Amateur astronomer Alberto Cabellero used the map to re-examine the area and found a single potential Sun-like star named 2MASS 19281982-2640123. It sits in the constellation of Sagittarius and is 1800 light years away. The next step is to find an Earth-like planet next to it with a Wow! transmitter.
A few months later, on Nov. 26, 1977, another mysterious transmission got the attention of Southern Englanders. It was Saturday and, at five o’clock, people were sitting down and listening to the day’s headlines read by Andrew Gardner, news anchor for Southern Television. At six minutes past, the picture wobbled and Gardner was drowned out by a strange voice with an ominous message accompanied by a slow, electronic sounding, low tone rhythmic beat.