Mark Haynes, a radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the project’s lead investigator said that last week’s experiment marked the first time an asteroid was monitored in such a way, and at such low frequencies. Discovered in 2004 and originally believed to pose a potential threat to Earth in the decades ahead, it is now believed that the object’s close approach will not pose any direct threat to Earth. The test, which targeted an asteroid called 2010 XC15, was part of a joint research effort with NASA to prepare for the arrival of the 1,100-foot-wide asteroid Apophis in 2029. The experiment, which bounced long-wavelength radio signals off the surface of the passing object to reveal information about its interior and composition, was conducted last week at Alaska’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) research facility near Gakona. We cultivate excellence, deliver value, enhance education, and engage the public.A 500-foot asteroid passing just twice the distance from Earth to the moon was recently the target of radio signals emitted by a powerful transmitter deep within the heart of Alaska, as part of an effort to enhance our ability to detect potentially deadly space objects. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare to secure the national defense."ĪUI collaborates with the scientific community and research sponsors to plan, build, and operate cutting-edge facilities. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.įounded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation We learn a lot from events like BLC-1, and our search efforts are improved for the next event. An open mind, kind but rigorous skepticism, and an agreed upon framework for evaluating events are critical for success, and that’s what we’re seeing happen here. The Breakthrough Listen Project has some of the world’s finest experts looking over their survey data, and events like BLC-1 will inevitably occur, be considered carefully and eventually ruled out - or confirmed! The stakes are pretty high here – discovery of an artificial radio signal from elsewhere in the Milky Way would be one of the most profound scientific discoveries in human history – so there’s plenty of excitement and interest whenever anything new is found. Searching for extraterrestrial radio signals is hard, and getting harder every year, as modern life requires more electronic support, and the internet moves into space. It drifted up slightly in frequency, (an indication that the transmitter is moving, or the electronics generating or receiving the signal are fluctuating somehow), and was only roughly localized in the general direction of Proxima Centauri.Īt this point, there is some consensus that the signal may be some form of interference, but scientific analysis of the signals detected is underway, and publication of the results is expected in the next month or so. The signal (named BLC-1) was detected in one channel at 982 MHz. It’s the closest known star to the Earth, about 4.2 light-years away, but invisible to the naked eye. The star under observation was Proxima Centauri, part of the Alpha Centauri triple star system. NRAO’s sister instrument, the Green Bank Telescope, an important partner of BLI, is searching the northern skies. The story concerned the tentative detection of an artificial signal in the southern sky, observed by the Parkes Telescope in Australia early in 2019. Last month, a story leaked to the press from the Breakthrough Listen Initiative (BLI), a world-wide decade-long effort to carefully search for artificial radio and optical signals.
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