Ready, SETI, gone

There was news last week that a radio signal had been received from space. The signal, around a minute long, was traced to a point between the Aries and Pisces constellations and apparently did not bear the signature of any know astronomical object. Pretty exciting news this in the New Scientist. Until later that day when a report in the BBC News had astronomers denying the ET signal which had apparently been detected through the SETI@home screensaver that uses computer downtime to analyse telescope data. Over the last 6 years when the program has been in operation, it has detected hundreds of thousands of signals, of which only 150 have survived the interference test, but none has ever been classed as a potential signal from ET – not even this one. As one of the astronomers quoted in the BBC article said – “it’s not new and it’s definitely not a signal”. (But would they tell us if it was? What kind of reaction would there be if people believed that contact had been made with extraterrestrials? Given the reaction we give people from other countries some times, it’s not looking good for our intergalactic neighbours!)