Reuters: Could Space Signal Be Alien Contact? (Cool)

[roguevalley]

Could Space Signal Be Alien Contact?

LONDON (Reuters) - An unexplained radio signal from deep space could -- just might be -- contact from an alien civilization, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday. The signal, coming from a point between the Pisces and Aries constellations, has been picked up three times by a telescope in Puerto Rico. New Scientist said the signal could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon or even be a by-product from the telescope itself. But the mystery beam has excited astronomers across the world.

"If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting," Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath in western England told the magazine.

It was broadcast on the main frequency at which the universe's most common element, hydrogen, absorbs and emits energy, and which astronomers say is the most likely means by which aliens would advertise their presence.

The potentially extraterrestrial signals were picked up through the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through the huge amount of data picked up by the telescope.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&e=1&u=/nm/space_signals_dc

[LearnedHand]

1. Oh, thank the gods

SOMEONE is coming to help us out of this mess.

[ogradda]

2. they better run

for their lives :)

[7th_Sephiroth]

3. we run Seti@home

(jealous, envious)

[punpirate]

8. So do I, but I haven't checked overall results...

... in quite a while. Lessee, now, 2078 data units completed, but no way to know one of mine picked up the anomalies.

Cheers. :hi:

[amjsjc]

4. That's cool n/t

[iconoclastic cat]

5. Ten bucks says it's an intergalactic infomercial.

Now, get your tentacles their greenest!

[sasquatch]

6. I wonder if they'll freak out and invade if they hear the pigman

:shrug:

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Hey, do you think they might have pity on DUers and let us come over?

We promise not to litter your nice little planet! Pretty please?

[sasquatch]

11. They'll probably keep Matcom out though

But I think they'll let us play on their little planet.

[iconoclastic cat]

12. Unless they, too, are wracked by wars and environmental devastation.

Then it'll just be a swapping of goodbyes.

[politicat]

7. wow....

seti@home paid off so fast.... Now for protein folding....

pcat

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. This is historic

if this is the case, folks this will thrown most religions into a crisis. We are in the midst of writing background material for a game whose premise is first contact. The research we did into a multitude of religions told us that this will not be easy, in particular for any FUNDAMENTALIST flavor of the three major religions (anybody care to shake the trees and bring in the usual suspects? Moreover Hinduism, in its fundametalist form may have trouble as well as Shinto.

The ones who may have it the easiest are any moderates in the above list... but when this is announced the panic that could ensue, depending on how it is done, will be fun to watch

God (no pun) when we started writign this, we never thought that we may actually see this in OUR LIFETIMES.

If this is the case strap in, the ride is about to get far more interesting.

[iconoclastic cat]

13. Actually, I couldn't think of a greater confirmation of spirituality.

Life is everywhere, so treasure it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. We already knew that

but think of your average oh Fundie...

[iconoclastic cat]

18. Fundies are the opposite: for all practical purposes, a death cult.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I've never seen them described this way but

I think you have nailed them to a T... wow... I have never seen a
better definition of Fundies

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. The fundies have only two choices

1) Go after and destroy the aliens

2) Utterly ignore the reality and deny the existence, claiming it is a hoax, a Darwinist lie, or a secular humanist attempt to make our children gay and kill their fetuses

More than likely, the fundies will invest themselvesw in number 2 - pure ignorance - because to go for number 1 means they have to acknowledge the existence, which will shatter their worldview.

So, the conclusion is - space aliens are safe from Earth's religious fundamentalists. Unless, of course, the aliens arrive on Earth, in which case the fundies will swarm and attack immediately.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Premise for game is more or less this one

that is why we had to do lots of reading, I even subjected myself to some talks wiht local fundies (Not fun... the sacrifices one makes for product development) Oh and they took option two

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. I figured they would take option 2!

It's the easiest, most head-in-the-sand option available. :-)

Talking with fundies is like....well, hell, it isn't like anything. It's a hell all to itself, with no metaphorical similarity.

[drhilarius]

27. #3- They would try to send signals containing the gospels...

and try to convert those heathen aliens.

[pmbryant]

15. Don't get excited. This has already been shot down.

"BBC: Astronomers deny ET signal report"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3621608.stm

There was an earlier thread on this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1624842

[JSJ]

21. ya' mean they won't be 'serving man' n/t

[Richard D]

16. Here's the scoop from the Seti site. darn.

http://planetary.org/news/2004/seti_signal_0902.html

[7th_Sephiroth]

26. still possible

out first television signals should start hitting other solar systems sometime soon, and who knows if aliens even use radio's or if they use the same frequencies

[miss_kitty]

20. "...'To Serve Man'...

...IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!!!!!!!"

[iconoclastic cat]

24. Wait, there's still more space dust on here!

They thought we were going to eat them!

[roguevalley]

25. I was hoping they were coming for Drudge and Limpballs. Darn.