The Wow of the Wow Signal
Josh Hyatt
Mr. Humpartzoomian
SES4U
9 November 2014
On the date August 15, 1977, Earth was the recipient of one of the greatest scientific mysteries ever presented. Ohio State University had a radio observatory known as the Big Ear, listening to the sky for whatever radio transmissions could be detected from black holes, quasars, or whatever other deep space objects that emitted radio frequencies. It was on this date where the most unique radio signal ever received from space was detected. In fact it was so astonishing to the young Jerry R. Ehman, who was monitoring the computer that night, that he scribbled “Wow!” in the margin of the printout in red ink. This gave birth to one of the greatest phenomena in the history of the Search for
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The biggest problem we have with this theory is that although all of our other possible theories seem to be scientifically unlikely to be true, there is no evidence to verify that it came from extra-terrestrials. After all, all we received was 72 seconds of radio waves of this strength and frequency. And perhaps the most astonishing factor about the Wow Signal is that it has never been found since. One would think that if an alien society were trying to make actual communication with another, they would be sending more than one signal to increase their likelihood of being intercepted. However, in spite of over 35 years and more than 100 more searches in the same area, SETI has never found a signal that even came close to Wow. It was the longest and loudest signal The Big Ear ever picked up until its closing in 1997. Other sites, like Hobart, Tasmania, have tried fruitlessly to find other signals that may point towards the truth regarding the origin of