This has led many astronomers and theorists to speculate about the origin of the signal and the kind of civilization that may have sent it. In a recent series of articles, amateur astronomer and science communicator Alberto Caballero offered some new ideas for Wow! Signal and extraterrestrial intelligence in our cosmopolitan neighborhood. In the first work, he looked for nearby Sun-like stars to identify a possible source for the signal. In the second, he assesses the prevalence of hostile alien civilizations in the Galaxy of the Galaxy and the possibility of invading us. Almost fifty years after its discovery, Wow! The signal continues to entice and defy the explanation. In recent years, attempts have been made to attribute comets to the edge of our Solar System, an explanation that the astronomical community has since rejected. In 2020, interest in this ETI nominee was revived when Cabellaro spotted a Sun-like star in the sky, where Wow! Signal detected. If the resolution is correct, this famous signal may have come from a Sun-like star 1,800 light-years away. Remove all ads on Universe Today Register with our Patreon for just $ 3! Gain a lifetime experience without ads The recap, Wow! The signal was spotted by Ohio State University’s most inactive Radio Observatory (nicknamed “Big Ear”), which was commissioned by SETI in 1973 after completing an extensive extraterrestrial radio source investigation. In the summer of 1977, astronomer Jerry R. Ehman volunteered with the project and was tasked with analyzing the vast amounts of data printed on line paper. On August 15, he spotted a series of values ​​that indicate a huge boost in intensity and frequency. Ehman released the alphanumeric identification of this signal (6EQUJ5) and wrote “Wow!” next to THIS. In recent years, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the trail, the interest and research for this mysterious event has renewed. This should come as no surprise, given how the most likely candidate for an alien message remains. Although it was (by all accounts) an unformed continuous wave, there was ample evidence at the time that the signal was not of physical origin. For one, the signal was heard only on one frequency, with no noise detected on any of the Big Big’s other 50 radio channels. This is not in line with physical emissions, which cause statics at other frequencies, while Wow! The signal was narrow and focused – what we would expect from a radio signal. Second, the signal “went up and down” during the 72 seconds that it was detectable. This is in line with the signals from space, which increase in intensity as they move in the sky and approach the telescope radio, and then decrease as they move away from the telescope. Third, the signal was observed near 1420 MHz, a “protected frequency” that Earth-based transmitters are forbidden to transmit as they are intended for astronomical studies. All of this indicated that the signal was of extraterrestrial origin, as satellites and terrestrial radio sources would be repeated in nature, while Wow! Signal seemed to be an isolated event. Based on the timing and orientation of the Big Ear Telescope, astronomers concluded that it must have come from somewhere in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. The mystery of Wow! Signal has long been of interest to Alberto Caballero Díez, a Spanish exoplanet hunter, SETI researcher and communications scientist. While Caballero studied Criminology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, he has since focused his efforts on researching habitable exoplanets and extraterrestrial intelligence. He has even resorted to one of his hobbies (daily trading) to fund his extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) efforts. He is perhaps best known as the host of The Exoplanets Channel, a Youtube channel for extraterrestrial studies, SETI and interstellar travel. He is also known for coordinating the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project (HEHP), an international network of professional and amateur astronomers dedicated to the study of exoplanets in nearby stellar systems. Specifically, the Project hopes to find potentially habitable exoplanets around stars G (yellow dwarf), K (orange dwarf) or type M (red dwarf) 100 light-years from Earth. “The project is a global network of professional and amateur optical observatories looking for potentially habitable exoplanets around nearby stars using the transit method,” Caballero told Universe Today via email. “I founded the project in 2019. [S]”Since then, more than 30 observatories on the five continents have joined.” In 2020, HEHP announced the discovery of an exoplanet the size of Saturn orbiting within the habitable zone of its parent star. This was the first discovery of an exoplanet made entirely by amateur astronomers. It was also in 2020 that Caballero spotted a Sun-like star almost identical to our Sun (a Solar Analogue) while looking for the area of ​​the sky where Wow! Signal detected. Caballero described the discovery through The Exoplanets Channel (published below) and in a paper * published in the International Journal of Astrobiology in early May. In this paper, Caballero researched nearby stars that look like the Sun, using data from the ESA Gaia Observatory (collected in the Gaia Archive) and identified the most likely source. The survey contained a sample of 66 yellow dwarfs of type G (similar in size and spectra to the Sun) and orange dwarfs of type K (slightly smaller and fainter than the Sun). It limited it to a candidate star located about 1,800 light-years from the Solar System. This was the 2MASS 19281982-2640123, a perfect solar analog comparable in size, mass and spectra to the Sun. As Caballero said: “Search the ESA Gaia Archive for stars with mass, radius and brightness similar to the Sun. “I rejected the red dwarfs because a large percentage of them emit flashes that destroy extraterrestrial atmospheres and we do not know which of them are flash stars.” The similarities between this star and our Sun make it the most likely place to find life and a possible civilization (as we know it). At the same time, the distance is in line with previous research by Italian astronomer Claudio Maccone. In 2010, Maccone conducted a statistical analysis ** where it concluded (with 75% certainty) that the nearest ETI would be between 1,000 and 4,000 light-years away. As Caballero explained, this makes 2MASS 19281982-2640123 an ideal candidate for surveillance researchers for potential technologies. These conclusions raise another interesting point, which goes straight to the heart of the whole “listen or send message” debate (also known as SETI and METI). While SETI’s efforts consist of listening to the universe for signs of possible extraterrestrial transmission (“passive SETI”), Extraterrestrial Messaging Intelligence (METI, or “active SETI”) consists of composing messages transmitted in space. In this sense, Wow! The signal is a perfect example of passive SETI efforts, while the Arecibo message is a perfect example of active SETI or METI. In his second work, Caballero addresses this issue by performing a statistical analysis of possible hostile civilizations in our galaxy and the likelihood that one or more of them will detect signals from Earth (and possibly choose to invade). Because radio antennas and radars are constantly leaking signals into space, Cabellero considered a risk assessment necessary. As he explained, this consisted of using the last century of Earth’s history as a model, a century plunged into conflict: “I have relied on estimates of the frequency of invasions of the Earth for the last 100 years. Only 51 countries out of 195 invaded another country. I have found that as time goes on and humanity grows, the frequency of invasions decreases. By extending the effects to humanity as soon as Type 1 civilization becomes capable of interstellar travel, the frequency and therefore the likelihood of invasion is reduced. “Estimates are based on life as we know it.” In addition, Caballero turned this same analysis to humanity and the possibility of becoming a “malicious culture” as soon as we become a Type 1 culture on the Kardashev Scale. A culture at this level of development would be able to harness all the energy of its planet and limit a measure of interstellar travel – to nearby stellar systems. His analysis showed that a maximum of four malicious cultures would be within walking distance of our broadcasts. As Caballero said, this shows that an alien invasion is not the greatest existential threat facing humanity: “The estimated low risk, lower than the probability of a planetary asteroid hitting, could support METI’s efforts. SETI is essential, but it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. If we really want to have a chance at contact with ET, we must start sending laser messages to thousands of exoplanets. “Whether we should do it or not depends on what the international community says.” Statistically, METI may not be the existential risk that some say it could be. Certainly not more than threats that are very …