**NOT A DRILL** SETI has picked up a Deep Space Signal ~~~

Not a Drill: SETI Is Investigating a Possible Extraterrestrial Signal From Deep Space
   
OBSERVER  Robin Seemangal22 hrs ago

An international team of scientists from the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) are investigating mysterious signal spikes emitting from a 6.3-billion-year-old star in the constellation Hercules–95 light years away from Earth. The implications are extraordinary and point to the possibility of a civilization far more advanced than our own. 

The unusual signal was originally detected on May 15, 2015 by the Russian Academy of Science-operated RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, Russia but was kept secret from the international community. Interstellar space reporter  Paul Gilster broke the story after the researchers quietly circulated a paper announcing the detection of “a strong signal in the direction of HD164595.”

The mysterious star’s designation is HD164595 and it’s considered to be sun-like in nature with a nearly identical metallic composition to our own star. So far, a single Neptune-like (but warmer) planet has been discovered in its orbit–HD 164595 b. But as Gilster explained, “there could, of course, be other planets still undetected in this system.”


© AP Photo/Ben Margot In this Oct. 9, 2007 file photo, radio telescopes of the Allen Telescope Array are seen in Hat Creek, Calif.  Decorated Italian SETI researcher and mathematician Claudio Maccone along with Russia’s Nikolai Bursov of the Special Astrophysical Observatory are the principal scientists working on the apparent discovery. They claim that “permanent monitoring of this target is needed.”

“The signal conceivably fits the profile for an intentional transmission from an extraterrestrial source,” says Alan Boyle, author of “The Case for Pluto” who reported the story for Geekwire. “ In any case, the blip is interesting enough to merit discussion by those who specialize in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI.”

© (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) The RATAN-600 Radio Telescope in Russia  The signal’s strength indicates that if it in-fact came from a isotropic beacon, the power source would have to be built by a Kardashev Type II civilization (The Kardashev scale is used to determine the progress of a civilization’s technological development by measuring how much energy was used to transmit an interstellar message.)  An ‘Isotropic’ beacon means a communication source emitting a signal with equal power in all directions while promoting signal strength throughout travel. 

In his acclaimed work “Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations,” Soviet Astronomer Nikolai Kardashev explained that a Type II civilization would be able to harness the energy of their entire host star. The most common hypothetical example of this would be a Dyson Sphere–which is a massive artificial structure that could completely encapsulate a star and transfer the energy to a nearby planet.
© (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell, a variant on Dyson's original concept
Basically, if the signal was beamed out into the galaxy without aim or direction, that would require an enormous amount of power to actually be detected. But what if the signal was beamed specifically at our solar system? Well, that would require less energy and could indicate the presence of a Kardashev Type I civilization–meaning that it could be a highly-technological, contemporary society that harnesses the solar energy emitted by its local star, much like our planet does with solar panels. This particular civilization’s social structure is theorized to be completely globalized and interconnected.

“The signal is provocative enough that the RATAN-600 researchers are calling for permanent monitoring of this target,” said Gilster. And that’s exactly what is transpiring. As of last night, the SETI institute is diverting its Allen Telescope Array in northern California to investigate while their counterparts at METI International (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) will utilize Panama’s Boquete Optical Observatory.

The detection of the mysterious signal and the ensuing investigations will be discussed at the IAA SETI Permanent Committee during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, on September 27th–the same day and location where Elon Musk will reveal his plans to colonize Mars . The Observer will be following up on both these stories from the Congress.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/not-a-drill-seti-is-investigating-a-possible-extraterrestrial-signal-from-deep-space/ar-AAid9oY?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Ok, this will be a highly-overly-inflated item for those 'Tin Foil Hatter' wearers; but as our years of technology and the dedicated NASA people that have worked every year to keep pushing our government for the necessary funding - this is exciting news!

Type I civilization methods[edit]
Large-scale application of fusion power. According to mass-energy equivalence, Type I implies the conversion of about 2 kg of matter to energy per second. An equivalent energy release could theoretically be achieved by fusing approximately 280 kg of hydrogen into helium per second,[14] a rate roughly equivalent to 8.9×109 kg/year. A cubic km of water contains about 1011 kg of hydrogen, and the Earth's oceans contain about 1.3×109 cubic km of water, meaning that humans on Earth could sustain this rate of consumption over geological time-scales, in terms of available hydrogen.
Antimatter in large quantities would have a mechanism to produce power on a scale several magnitudes above our current level of technology. In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to radiant energy. Their energy density (energy released per mass) is about four orders of magnitude greater than that from using nuclear fission, and about two orders of magnitude greater than the best possible yield from fusion.[15] The reaction of 1 kg of anti-matter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy.[16] Although antimatter is sometimes proposed as a source of energy, this does not appear feasible. Artificially producing antimatter – according to current understanding of the laws of physics – involves first converting energy into mass, so no net gain results. Artificially created antimatter is only usable as a medium of energy storage, not as an energy source, unless future technological developments (contrary to the conservation of the baryon number, such as a CP violation in favour of antimatter) allow the conversion of ordinary matter into anti-matter. Theoretically, humans may in the future have the capability to cultivate and harvest a number of naturally occurring sources of antimatter.[17][18][19]
Renewable energy through converting sunlight into electricity — either by using solar cells and concentrating solar power or indirectly through wind and hydroelectric power. There is no known way for human civilization to use the equivalent of the Earth's total absorbed solar energy without completely coating the surface with human-made structures, which is not feasible with current technology. However, if a civilization constructed very large space-based solar power satellites, Type I power levels might become achievable- these could convert sunlight to microwave power and beam that to collectors on Earth.

Figure of a Dyson swarm surrounding a star
Type II civilization methods[edit]
Type II civilizations might use the same techniques employed by a Type I civilization, but applied to a large number of planets in a large number of solar systems.
A Dyson sphere or Dyson swarm and similar constructs are hypothetical megastructures originally described by Freeman Dyson as a system of orbiting solar power satellites meant to enclose a star completely and capture most or all of its energy output.[20]
Perhaps a more exotic means to generate usable energy would be to feed a stellar mass into a black hole, and collect photons emitted by the accretion disc.[21][22] Less exotic would be simply to capture photons already escaping from the accretion disc, reducing a black hole's angular momentum; this is known as the Penrose process.
Star lifting is a process where an advanced civilization could remove a substantial portion of a star's matter in a controlled manner for other uses.
Antimatter is likely to be produced as an industrial byproduct of a number of megascale engineering processes (such as the aforementioned star lifting) and therefore could be recycled.[citation needed]
In multiple-star systems of a sufficiently large number of stars, absorbing a small but significant fraction of the output of each individual star.

From Wikipedia

Having been an attorney involved in the lawsuit following the crash of the Space Shuttle Challenger, I don't really have the same high regard for NASA as you do.

The fate of the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003, after Federal judges in the Northern District of Illinois and Salt Lake City refused to listen to any criticism of NASA--by us or the FBI--means I have even less sympathy.  If they don't care, why should I?  

NASA is a bunch of Utah Mormons and Republicans bent on wasting as much money on cowboy toys as is the military.

Ninety-five years away means that signals that began at the commencement of radios are now returning.  I can wait until the extraterrestrials are booking hotel rooms.

Beam me up Scotty!

nicko wrote:Beam me up Scotty!

Not so fast slim.  Search him for any federal taxpayers' money in his pockets, first.

There's Klingons on the starboard bow!

nicko wrote:There's Klingons on the starboard bow!

Them too!

scrat wrote:

Hiya Scrat, me ole chum. How the devil are you keeping? Long time no speak since that twonk Dean banned me for spilling the beans on Hugh/Durham for hacking.
At least they have gone.
Haven't seen you there for a while - it seems 95%kaka posting about Muslims.
Stay here , much nicer and far busier. And there are still a couple of rw racists to vent your spleen at, aren't  there Tommy and Major.

Handy Andy wrote:

scrat wrote:

Hiya Scrat, me ole chum. How the devil are you keeping? Long time no speak since that twonk Dean banned me for spilling the beans on Hugh/Durham for hacking.
At least they have gone.
Haven't seen you there for a while - it seems 95%kaka posting about Muslims.
Stay here , much nicer and far busier. And there are still a couple of rw racists to vent your spleen at, aren't  there Tommy and Major.

Hiya Andy, hope alls cool, yeah #flapaturk got on one over me calling Kaka OBP, the only excitement was the various fraggles supporting this vile specimen, still fun can be had but too much fun is a banning offence,,,so the 5% must be from smelly B.

hmmm...sounds like a SSTV signal to me

Hi folks, I hope you're all okay.

As some of you may remember, I've said before in other topics some time ago, there must be a profusion of life in the Universe, considering there are 30 million species of life on Planet Earth! Why should this be the only little mud ball to host life? Dear old Mother Nature, Gaia if you like, has created/caused several splits-changes and varieties to many species, humans included. Several different species of Early Man have been found but all, ourselves included, link back to a primate existence. From a blade of grass to a Giant Redwood, from a worm to a snake, from a mouse to an elephant, such a huge variety of life. I believe it is wrong for we humans to believe we are the only intelligent species of life in the Universe. One day we will find life on other planets.

stardesk wrote:Hi folks, I hope you're all okay.

As some of you may remember, I've said before in other topics some time ago, there must be a profusion of life in the Universe, considering there are 30 million species of  life on Planet Earth! Why should this be the only little mud ball to host life? Dear old Mother Nature, Gaia if you like, has created/caused several splits-changes and varieties to many species, humans included. Several different species of Early Man have been found but all, ourselves included, link back to a primate existence. From a blade of grass to a Giant Redwood, from a worm to a snake, from a mouse to an elephant, such a huge variety of life. I believe it is wrong for we humans to believe we are the only intelligent species of life in the Universe. One day we will find life on other planets.

I'm opened minded enough {I like to think I am anyway} to at least consider the option that we are not the #1 single life form in this grand scheme of things; that while we might be a proto type of some test tube experiment {gone wrong} that we have other galaxies equal - greater - or lesser then where we are out there somewhere.  That the grand plan is for us to find each other and learn from those locations and that that is the reason for our vast distance ...GAME ON, see which 'mud ball' is up to the task at hand!
And perhaps there are some already here >

IF IT takes 95 years for light from that star to reach here, than by the time we hear about it, whatever was happening there was nearly a century ago...

IF there was a civilisation out there there back when, sending out radio waves to eventually be picked up by whomever just happened to be on the same wavelength, there's always the chance that by the time a spacecraft reached there in a few centuries (remembering that mankind doesn't yet have the capability to travel anywhere near the speed of light..), that "civilisation" may well have wiped itself out, or maybe moved on to greener pastures ?        

Still, our wives could chat back and forth after hours...