Prof. Antonio Paris has started a crowdfunding venture.
An astrophysicist is on a mission to give a scientific explanation to a mysterious signal which is considered the best hope for an alien radio transmission ever received.
If the mission of Professor Antonio Paris of St. Petersburg College, Florida is successful, it could make history as being the first ever sign of alien life.
On August 15, 1977, Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope received a strong narrowband radio signal. The signal appeared to come from the constellation Sagittarius and bore the expected hallmarks of extraterrestrial origin.
The peculiarity of the signal was discovered by astronomer Jerry R. Ehman while reviewing the data a few days later. He was so impressed by the result that he circled the reading on the computer printout and wrote the comment Wow! – which is how the event has since been referred to.
Though attempts were made to find an explanation to the signal, scientists have not been able to observe it again despite several attempts.
After about 40 years, Prof. Paris has found some interesting facts surrounding the signal and he is going to reopen the case to shed light on the phenomenon.
“I have this investigative background, so I approached the ‘Wow!’ signal as I’m going back to the crime scene,” Paris told The Guardian.
“It’s a cold case, so I went to various [astronomical] databases to find culprits or suspects that were at this crime scene at the time,” he added.
According to Paris, two comets known as 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs which were discovered in 2006 and 2008, respectively, were in the vicinity of Sagittarius when the signal was detected. These two comets will come near Sagittarius group again on January 25, 2017 and on January 7, 2018, respectively.
Paris has even started a crowd funding campaign on gofundme to support his venture.