Could This Be The First Live Alien Signal Received From Another Galaxy?

A group of Australian astronomers captured a live radio signal emitting from space. They think that this signal will get them a step closer to understanding alien phenomenon and emissions from galaxies other than the Milky Way.

The enigmatic signal is not the first of its kind however, it’s the first ever to be captured live. This was accomplished using the Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, the same telescope involved in the Breakthrough Listen Project that is about to start in 2016.

In 2007, the Parkes telescope captured a similar radio burst but those wave signals were discovered through archived data, making the one surprised in 2015 a unique phenomenon.

These events are one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. Untill now, astronomres were not able to catch one of these events in the act. – John Mulchaey

The group of astronomers are now trying to find the exact source of the signal.

Theories suggests it was caused by the collapse or explosion of a star from another galaxy, while other explanations consider the energy emitting from a neutron star as a possible cause.

Emily Petroff, lead scientist of the Swinburne team, said that either theory could be wrong, stating that the signal could be from an entirely different source, like a black hole, an alien beacon or even an advanced alien civilization.

The radio burst lasted just a few milliseconds but it erupted with as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Because of this astonishing force, it managed to cross a distance of around 5.5 billion light-years before intercepted by the Australian telescope.

Another unusual fact about this event is that the delay between the arrival of the first and last waves of each burst was close to a multiple of 187.5, a mathematical phenomenon for which no answer has been found.

Judging by the way the waves were polarized suggest that it had been triggered by an object with a large magnetic field, and so excluding previous possibilities.

The fact that we did not see light in the other wave lights eliminates a number of astronomical phenomena that are associated with violent events such as gamma-ray bursts from exploding stars and supernovas, which were otherwise candidates for the burst. – Daniel Melesani

Could this point towards the hypothesis of an alien signal attempting to get our attention?

Knowing that the Kepler space observatory has discovered a series of new worlds similar to our own, with the most recent being Kepler 452B – considered Earth’s twin, the above theory regarding other alien civilizations trying to make contact with us doesn’t seem impossible after all.