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“Wow!” Signal expression. The comment on the page inspired the name of the event, as this mysterious signal sparked debate about life in the universe. . | Photo credit: Big Ear Radio Observatory and North American Astrophysical Observatory (NAAPO)
This article was originally published at The conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
When humans began exploring space in the second half of the 20th century, Radio waves proved to be a powerful tool. Scientists could send out radio waves to communicate with them SatellitesRockets and other spacecraft and their use Radio telescopes To Record radio waves emitted by objects throughout the universe.
However, sometimes Radio telescopes would record the artificial radio signals from telecommunications. This disruption threatened sensitive astronomical observations, resulted in inaccurate data, and even damaged equipment. While This disruption frustrated scientistsit also sparked an idea.
During the Cold War a new field emerged at the interface of radio astronomy and radio communication. It put forward the idea that astronomers could search for radio communications from possibly existing extraterrestrial civilizations. Astronomy is usually covered Observation of the natural phenomena of the universe. But this new field made the discovery technological or man-made Radio wavesSubject of a natural science.
This field has continued to this day and is now called “ Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence or SETI. SETI encompasses everything scientists do to search for intelligent life outside Earth. It encompasses one of the original uses of radio telescopes: studying signals from across the galaxy in the hope of discovering intelligent messages.
When the idea behind SETI was first proposed and pursued in the 1960s, only two countries, the USA and the USSR, had the technical capabilities to do it. As the only space powers at the time, they were the main players affected by radio frequency interference.
As a science historianI have worked to understand the events in the history of the Soviet SETI during the space race by analyzing a number of primary sources. SETI captured the scientific imagination of many prominent Soviet astronomers in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Astronomers have not yet confirmed any detection of radio signals – or other types of characters – from extraterrestrial civilizations. But many scientists are still searching, even if their bold ideas face obstacles. Some evidence suggests so Humans could be the only intelligent life in the universe.
Soviet SETI: The Golden Age of Radio Astronomy
SETI is closely linked to the profound changes brought about by radio astronomy. Until the second half of the 20th century, scientists could only see astronomical objects and phenomena in optical or visible light. Optical light is the same type of light that the human eye is sensitive to.
After World War II, scientists found that they could peacefully use radar antennas designed for use in that war for tracking purposes Radio signals emitted from objects in the universe. By decoding these signals, researchers were able to study astronomical objects in the universe. For example, they learned about the most common element: hydrogen.
The prominent pioneer of radio astronomy in the former Soviet Union Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky played a key role in detecting radio signals from hydrogen.
Scientists knew that each chemical element would absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others, and the light signals that an object absorbed or reflected could tell astronomers which element it was. Most hydrogen couldn’t be directly observed in optical light, so astronomers didn’t discover it in space until they started looking beyond the visible light spectrum.
This image shows red hydrogen clouds over the interior of a red giant star. | Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Shklovsky figured it out how to detect hydrogen with radio waveswhich helped astronomers map the distribution and movement of hydrogen gas within and between galaxies.
Historians generally consider 1960 to be the beginning of the Golden Age of Radio Astronomy. After the discovery of hydrogen, astronomers discovered previously unknown types of stars, such as: Pulsars and quasars. These phenomena offered scientists new insights into the nature of astrophysical phenomena and fundamental physics.
Later, Shklovsky’s fascination grew with the possibility of using radio waves to contact other intelligent beings in the universe. In 1960, he published an article on this topic in one of the most renowned scientific journals in the country.
Shklovsky’s article soon became a widely circulated book entitled “Universe, life, intelligencepublished in 1962. In the same year, the USSR Academy of Sciences was founded sent his first radio message toward Venus from a radar in Crimea.
The experiment involved Radio signals are reflected from the surface of Venus to transmit the following words in Morse code: Lenin, USSR and me, which in Russian means both world and peace. Although the risk of radio interference increased statistically, this message was primarily symbolic. The Soviet Union wanted to demonstrate its technological power and did not expect to communicate with aliens. So the Soviet SETI was not yet a real chase.
Start an organized search
Shklovsky and most of the other radio astronomers searching for extraterrestrial intelligence were all in central Russia at the time. The USSR Academy of Sciences was also located there. However, this group needed more formal action to transform their search from a few initiatives into a coordinated effort.
Out of concern about unwanted public attention, the scientists organized a conference far from Moscow, at the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in the Soviet Republic of Armenia in 1964. At this conference, researchers formed a group specifically dedicated to studying artificial radio signals from space. With this group, SETI became a top-down, government-led activity.
With this validation, scientists could now theoretically Look for artificial signalspossibly of extraterrestrial origin. However, all discussions about artificial radio signals were under strict government surveillance, as military satellites also depended on them.
Soviet scientists faced several obstacles. For example, the secrecy of their own government made coordination difficult. Also the Cold War Set boundaries on the international development of SETI. However, they had the green light to search and investigate strange signals that they suspected were of artificial origin.
International cooperation
Efforts toward international cooperation on artificial signals culminated in 1971 a symposium, again in Byurakan. There, about 50 scientists – most from the United States and the USSR, but also some from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Canada – agreed that they disagreed about how best to conduct SETI.
Some present compared this congregation to Noah’s Arkbecause almost an equal number of prominent scientists from the East and West of the Iron Curtain managed to meet this year. And the gathering took place in Armenia at the foot of Mount Araratis in neighboring Türkiye. Archaeologists suspect that Noah’s Ark may have been stranded on this mountain.
After nearly a week of discussions in Byurakan, the two geopolitical blocs appointed an official SETI group. This group still exists today and still connects researchers around the world conducting SETI research. Given the secrecy surrounding radio signals in space, this international SETI group represented a significant diplomatic success at the height of the Cold War.
SETI started in the Soviet Union with some strong Moscow initiatives. This continued through group events in Armenia – from the first Soviet state-level conference to the international one.
SETI is the first and only field of astronomy to study artificial radio signals themselves. It indirectly addressed radio frequency interference at a time when these frequencies were still largely unregulated.
The countries involved eventually addressed their radio frequency interference problems international agreements on the use and allocation of radio frequencies. An international committee approved a workable and comprehensive radio spectrum allocation plan For the first time in the 1970s. This plan has since been revised and renewed. Today, space scientists and astronomers use one internationally agreed plan to minimize these disruptions.
Notably, SETI began before this allocation plan. SETI continues its rich legacy today continue to look for signals – and discover new astrophysical objects and phenomena at the same time.
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