40 Years Ago, Earth Received an Extraterrestrial Message: The “Wow!” Signal Explained

“Wow!” Signal: In 1977, Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope detected a powerful narrowband radio signal during a search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The signal lasted 72 seconds.

Life beyond Earth is a phenomenon that humans have been trying to solve since they began studying the planets. To achieve this, we have tried almost everything to communicate with aliens, but we are still waiting for concrete success. Speaking of communicating with aliens, forty years ago, in August 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University detected a very powerful radio signal while searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. The signal, which lasted only 72 seconds, was so intriguing that astronomer Jerry Ehman, who discovered it a few days later, expressed his thoughts by writing “Wow!” on the printed document, giving it its famous name. It is worth noting that the signal was received from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and many believe that it could indeed be a radio message from an extraterrestrial civilization.

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