Mystery of The Wow Signal

Wow signal is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the world of astronomy and space sciences. Wow signal is the narrow band radio signal that was detected on August 15 1977, by the Big Ear Radio telescope of Ohio State University. The signal was the strongest signal ever detected during the decades of observations made by Big Ear radio telescope. The signal lasted for 72 seconds and it was loud and clear. Days later when the computer printout was observed by the astronomer Jerry Ehman, he detected the power of strong signal and he marked it with red pen and wrote Wow next to it. That’s why it is called wow signal and it fit the name because this signal blown the minds of astronomers and scientists. This signal is considered as the missing connection and a signal sent by some extraterrestrial activities. That’s why it is the strongest evidence of the other life forms in universe. Astronomers researched over this strange signal that lasted for more than 70 seconds and they believed that it might be sent by some alien intelligence or alien spacecraft. All the studies, hallmarks and explanations of this signal pointed towards its origin from interstellar space. After 1977 scientists and team of astronomers put all their efforts to detect the signal again and this time they replace Big Ear telescope with the more sensitive and effective radio telescope to get the signal more clear. But Wow signal never occurred again making the whole mystery more strange and unsolved. Many attempts were made to record the signal again but nothing was found. Scientists may have named wow signal as just a misunderstanding or disfunction in telescope but the computer printout of the signal wasn’t lying. The most convincing and perhaps the accurate discovery and explanation of wow signal was given by professor Antonio Paris from St Petersburg Collage, Florida. He started his research on the emission of the signal and he found out that a comet named 266p/Christensen might be the reason behind the bizarre signal. Additionally he said another comet called 335p/ Gibbs also could be the culprit behind the signal. These comets weren’t catalogued before that because they are discovered later in 2006 and 2008 respectively. According to his research these two comets were passing through the region of Chi Sagittarii, where Big Ear radio telescope was searching for the signal back in 1977. He stated that comets do emit radio signal due to the gaseous cloud around them. Hydrogen clouds have ability to emit the same frequency signals as Wow Signal. That day in 1977 the comets were moving from that area and emit signal that Big Ear detected and the reason why the signal has never been repeated is that these comets went back in their orbit. To support his hypotheses he further explained that the comets will return to the region of Chi Sagittarri stars group and this is the golden chance to record the wow signal again. Comet 266p/ Christensen is going to pass on 245 January 2017 and 335p/Gibbs is mark that passage on 7 January 2018. Paris then gathered the support from public to get the telescope to get the evidences to prove his ideas. Paris and his team recorded the signals from the comets and publish it. The signal does solve the 40 years old mystery to an extent but it is not fully proving wow Signal existence. The signal frequency recorded by Paris was not similar to the wow signal and wasn’t that strong enough. Paris said in his defense that comets does lost mass by travelling in their orbit that is why the comets from 1977 were massive then 2017. Many astronomers don’t agree with Paris’s explanation of comets. James Ehman, the director of radio observatory in Ohio, is now retired but he does look at Paris’s study and observe his work. Ehman explain that the biggest thing is that wow signal didn’t repeat and it lasted for short time. According to him, Big Ear had two horn to provide two different field of view for the radio telescope. He said that in 1977 we were suppose to get two signals from these two horns, each of them of 70 seconds with different field view but they found just one signal instead and the other feed horn was empty and had nothing. Ehman then told that this only happens when the signal emission was cut off abruptly. A comet can’t emit that kind of signal and there was no point of it to cut off in the middle because the gases around the comets provide large diffuse area. It can’t be possible for any comet to escape from a radio Telescope’s field of view that fast. He farther explained his point that wow signal might not be from aliens because these kinds of signal can be appeared naturally by even the fast radio bursts with astrophysical millisecond origin. The two-horn of big ear explanation is still huge question mark for all the astronomers and it is something no one had answer for. Wow signal is still a mystery and the strongest evidence of the existence of the extraterritorial civilization.