40-Year Old Alien ‘Wow’ Mystery Signal Solved

An astronomical mystery signal spotted by Dr. Jerry Ehman on August 15, 1977 which has eluded explanation for decades may finally be considered solved. This is according to a paper published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. The research team suggest that the unique reading is the result of a hydrogen cloud accompanying a passing comet. Led by Professor Antonio Paris, the researchers suspected the presence of a comet when the transmitted frequency matched the same frequency as hydrogen at 1420.25 MHz.

When Ehman detected the anomaly back in 1977, he marked ‘Wow’ beside the printout of the data of the now iconic mystery. This has fueled much speculation about extra-terrestrial life. Professor Paris challenged this assumption last year however, when he initially proposed his own hypothesis. Professor Paris and his team conducted over 200 observations in radio spectrum and comets for a year. The research team was able to reproduce the 1429.25 MHz ‘Wow’ mystery signal on possible comets that might have triggered the original event. They were also able to confirm the data using randomly observed comets that exhibited the same behaviour.

Unlikely the Sign of Extra-Terrestrial Life Communicating

The most likely contender for the ‘Wow’ mystery signal is the comet 266/P Christensen. This comet crossed paths again most recently with Earth in February 2017.  Although it is not certain that this is the same comet from 1977, it is unlikely an alien life-form signal. The data collected confirms unequivocally that the ‘Wow’ event is a naturally occurring phenomenon.

The full research paper, supporting Professor Paris’ hypothesis is available as a PDF file from the Center of Planetary Sciences.