## W.O.W SIGNAL 1977

Post by Jason Toddman » Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:45 am

I have known of this one myself for years, and have heard all sorts of theories for it.
Because of the timing some suggest it was one of the Voyager probes, but this is impossible as this took place just before either one was launched. But possibly it was a satellite or moving space probe of some kind, and that is why the signal has never been picked up again (it moved on). Now, whether that probe was on Earthly or extra-terrestrial origin is another thing altogether. If Earthly, they should've figured out what satellite/probe was the culprit long before now. An ET probe could've come from anywhere and gone to anywhere, like the spacecraft in Rendezvous with Rama. This seems unlikely but not impossible.
It could also have been a purely earth-origin radio signal that bounced off the ionosphere and into the reflector dish (probably so garbled it was unintelligible) in a million-to-one fluke; such signal reflections from long distances HAVE been observed before by people with ordinary radio sets; this is basically how ham radios used to operate. Though not very exciting, a mundane explanation similar to this IS imo the most likely one.
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### Re: W.O.W SIGNAL 1977

Post by Jason Toddman » Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:52 pm

> george1909 wrote:the guy ''jerry ehman'' who recieved the signal art first thought that it was bouncing off a man made object and it was earth based but recanted when they done tests and found it to be extremely unlikely. also check out the ''chillbolton'' crop circle in england it is supposedly a message recieved in 2001 to a mesage sent by carl sagan in 1974 to a star system light years away.

The system Sagan beamed a signal to is in the Hercules Globular Cluster... 25,000 light years away. The signal hasn't had time to get even 0.2 % of the distance there yet. And it's already been answered?! And you want to talk about extremely unlikely things?!
As for the WOW Signal; yes it is still a mystery even after all this time, but I said the radio signal could have been bounced off the ionosphere, not a solid object. The ionosphere reflects radio waves; that's why ham radios could transmit long distances long before there were such things as communications satellites. I'm not saying THAT has to be the cause; just that a known phenomenon like that is more likely than an unproven (if much more interesting) assumption such as an alien spaceship or a distant alien planet. I could be wrong (Hell, I hope I AM wrong, provided the aliens are friendly!!!), but so far there's no real proof one way or another, and usually the simplest explanation is the correct one.
And of course there's always the possibility of a hoax somewhere.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: W.O.W SIGNAL 1977

Post by drawscore » Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:05 am

We have seen in scifi pictures and series, the use of "stargates" or "wormholes," which can span light years in the blink of an eye. If they do, in fact, exist, it occurs to me that if you can physically enter a wormhole or stargate, and emerge without ill effect at the other end, you would also be able to transmit a signal through one.
It's all theoretical, but then, going to the moon, or finding the Titanic, was theoretical 100 years ago.
Drawscore

### Re: W.O.W SIGNAL 1977

Post by mikeybound » Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:33 am

Is it possible that the signal was produced naturally? Like from some cosmic event.

### Re: W.O.W SIGNAL 1977

Post by Jason Toddman » Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:59 am

> drawscore wrote:It's all theoretical, but then, going to the moon, or finding the Titanic, was theoretical 100 years ago.
> Drawscore

True; which is why I say unlikely but not impossible. We see many examples of the equally unlikely taking place every day. For example, anyone who tried to predict the internet and computers 100 years ago would have been considered a loony!

> mikeybound wrote:Is it possible that the signal was produced naturally? Like from some cosmic event.

This is VERY unlikely, as a natural event would not have shifted position relative to our solar system signficantly over such a brief time nor have ceased transmitting after a single interval. The only known event I could think of which does such a thing is a gamma ray burst (a phenomenon not known about at the time of the WOW signal), but those are usually even briefer than the WOW signal and does not fit the usual profile for other reasons as well (such bursts are usually detected only by probes out in space for one thing, since gamma rays don't penetrate our atmosphere - which is VERY fortunate for US). It's not impossible either; however if this was the case they'd have likely figured this out long before now since they known exactly what area of the sky to look for evidence of such a thing. It'd likely have to be a phenomenon we *still* haven't discovered yet and therefore don't know how to spot nor to explain.
I think even the odds of it being an alien spacecraft are actually greater than the odds of a still-unknown and undetectable natural event. Still... you never know. There is undoubtedly a LOT out there we still know nothing about!
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...