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That ‘Alien’ Signal? New Observations Are Coming Up Empty.
A strong radio spike from a sunlike star took the Internet by storm. But so far, follow-up looks have been raining on that parade.
For several days, a curiously energetic radio signal coming from the stellar system HD 164595 had eager Earthlings wondering whether signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life had finally been discovered.
But follow-up observations with some of Earth’s most prolific alien-hunting telescopes have so far turned up empty: Neither the Allen Telescope Array, commanded by the SETI Institute, nor the Green Bank Telescope, used by the Breakthrough Listen project, detected any signs of a tantalizing signal from this distant world.
That’s not necessarily surprising, given the vague and dubious nature of the original signal (more on that in a minute).
(Update, 5:50 p.m. ET: In a translation of a statement posted online on August 30, the Russian Academy of Science notes
