An anomalous radio signal was picked up by the Breakthrough Listen Project astronomers with the Parkes radio telescope in Australia.
It comes from the direction in which Proxima Centauri is located, the closest star to the Sun at only 4.2 light years and was identified this fall, analyzing the data collected in 2019. The news, reported by the English newspaper The Guadian, sparking the imagination of the alien hunters, has been confirmed by Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti), which however is very cautious and specifies on its website that the possible sources of this signal may be different.
The signal, with an emission frequency of 982 megahertz, does not seem to come from a terrestrial antenna, it could in fact come from a satellite in orbit.
There are over 2700 satellites in operation around our planet.
But if it weren't a satellite signal, what else could it be?
Seti explains that it is possible that it came from something behind Proxima Centauri.
If it didn't come from Proxima Centauri, it could be something else that is far beyond.
Natural radio signals, produced by quasars or pulsars, are not narrowband and are not confined to a narrow range of frequencies, as this signal appears to be.
"Natural astronomical signals - explains to ANSA Marta Burgay, researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics (Inaf) - are usually on multiple frequencies continuously, not just one as in this case. However, we terrestrials continuously emit radio waves with these characteristics".
Suffice it to recall that a few years ago, again from the same telescope, a radio signal was picked up which was then discovered to have been produced by the microwave oven of the structure's visitor center.
Another hypothesis is that these are natural radio signals emitted by a planet with a strong magnetic field, such as that of Jupiter.
"There are many possible explanations, but until we know - concludes Seti - we will have to continue to consider the alien hypothesis among the possibilities".
