In 2019, researchers studying Proxima Centauri using Australia’s Parkes Radio Telescope detected an unusual five-hour radio wave burst. The astronomers dismissed this as interference, but the signal gained renewed attention when an intern at Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Listen identified something intriguing in the data.
Science educator and filmmaker Simon Holland has sparked online conversation about the signal, now termed Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1 (BLC-1). Meanwhile, the researchers on the $100 million initiative are examining the signal as a potential alien technosignature.
BLC-1’s Interesting Characteristics
Analysing BLC-1, Breakthrough Listen is wrestling weak data and terrestrial interference that complicate signal verification. However, the signal does have some interesting characteristics.
It looks to be a single-point source with a narrow electromagnetic spectrum, which means it may not have a natural origin. When tracking the signal, astronomers observed a Doppler effect, with the frequency increasing and decreasing. This shifting frequency indicates potential movement around a star like Proxima Centauri.
Examining Four Million Hits in a Scan of Proxima Centauri
During their investigation, the Breakthrough Listen researchers ran a comprehensive scan of Proxima Centauri’s star system across multiple frequencies. They identified four million hits. After multiple filtering processes, they whittled this down to 5,160 technosignature candidates.
However, subsequent research revealed that the signal could originate from faulty equipment near the telescope.
This seemed even more likely when the researchers revisited the data. Breakthrough Listen was keen to reevaluate, recognising that some of astronomy’s greatest discoveries arise from reanalysing archived data.
However, they realised an automated sorting programme had ignored various signals at frequencies aligning with common digital electronics clock oscillator frequencies. The finding suggests a human technological origin.
Continuing Research
Breakthrough Listen has since expanded its search to cover BLC-1 through to BLC-5, using some of the world’s most advanced telescopes. However, analysis still suggests the signal could be local data interference. Researchers often come across radio interferences that look like extraterrestrial technosignatures but turn out to be human-generated.
Nonetheless, the research continues with support from Yuri Milner and Breakthrough Listen’s partners. There are still technical barriers to overcome, but the implications of verifying the signal would be ground-breaking.
For the time being, the signal is in the low information zone. This means there isn’t enough data to confirm one way or the other yet.
Breakthrough Listen’s Vital Work
Breakthrough Listen is the world’s biggest scientific research programme examining extraterrestrial life. In 2023, it partnered with the University of Oxford, which is now home to the initiative’s headquarters.
Principal Investigator Dr Andrew Siemion leads Breakthrough Listen, which aligns with the University’s research priorities of machine learning, exoplanet studies, sky surveys, radio instrumentation, digital signal processing, citizen science, and studies of transient and variable objects.
Together, Breakthrough Listen and the University are:
- Searching for life on extrasolar planets, prioritising our nearest neighbours first.
- Examining hardware, software, and theoretical advances in radio astrophysics.
- Creating innovative machine learning techniques to search the immense volume of incoming astronomical signals for irregularities.
- Detecting astrophysical transients and anomalies in optical transient surveys.
- Investigating the prospect of using the lunar farside as an interference-free site for radio astronomy.
Breakthrough Listen and the University aim to find evidence of alien life beyond Earth. The partnership has allowed Breakthrough Listen to develop the scope of its research and place the UK at the front of the world’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Find out more about Breakthrough Listen.
About Yuri Milner
Breakthrough Listen co-founder Yuri Milner is one of the minds behind the Breakthrough Initiatives. The Eureka Manifesto author also co-launched the Breakthrough Prize and the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. Each is the product of his Giving Pledge promise to donate most of his wealth to philanthropic, often scientific causes.
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