The Wow! Signal Was Probably Not a Comet

An exploration into the notion that the Wow! Signal was actually not emissions from a comet and remains a mystery.

Papers:

"Hydrogen Line Observations of Cometary Spectra at 1420 Mhz" Paris, 2017

"Hydrogen Clouds from Comets 266P Christensen and P2008 Y2 (Gibbs) are Candidates for the Source of the 1977 WOW!Signal" Paris and Davies, 2017

Music:

[zarinkai]

Hello John,
I grew up a D grade student my whole life and never really had an interest in anything . Now that im older, I've realized how fascinating the Universe is. Though im not as smart as you or your other viewers, I'll relentlessly chip away at my ignorance step by step & admire you folks . You've all inspired me . Thanks

[Lucidfilth]

That radio voice man. Brilliant channel.

[RavenholmZombie]

Your voice is like butter for my ears. A truly amazing channel, please keep making more videos :)

[ScottLahteine]

One day the aliens finally arrived. A few weeks afterward, the press was finally permitted to pose questions to the Alien Ambassador. A reporter from The Times asked, "So what's with all the funny lights in the sky buzzing our airlines, fighter jets, and Mexico City?" Several seconds passed as the question and Ambassador's answer were translated. "Yes, " said the Ambassador through the translator, "we get those on our planet also. No idea."

[northerniltree]

The WOW signal, like optical images processed by the human eye, needs to be "flipped over" as a frequency in order to interpret
it correctly. I have done that with a frequency modulator, and fed the results into a supercomputer at my lab. After exhaustive analysis and impeccable scrutiny, I have determined that it is, in fact, a MOM signal.

[katiekatie]

What if the reason the wow signal didn't repeat Is because it wasn't used in normal radio communication, but was instead a single burst meant to inform any intelligent beings in our general area of their presence, much like the Arecibo message? Except, maybe, less well thought-out.

[BigFrakkinOgre]

I'm kinda hoping our first detected alien signal is porn, not because i want to see alien porn but because we'd at least have something in common

[pls]

the fact that all the brilliant minds of the world havent been able to put together a convincing natural cause for this in 40 years says something for itself. Wouldn't surprise me at all if it was an alien signal, sadly we need it to repeat to be sure :(

[Laenthal]

This flashlight analogy clicks in neatly. As if the signal is a kind of a lighthouse beam for navigational purposes, although it would be more logical to use pulsars for such purpose..

[dunedainrangers]

That's so funny.
We avoid transmitting in the "waterhole" zone so we keep it clear so we can hear alien transmissions in the "waterhole" zone. But of course, can't we assume that aliens are ALSO avoiding transmitting in the "waterhole" zone so they can hear our transmissions?
Do we transmit in the "waterhole" zone? No we don't. Do we repeat our signals? No we don't.
We shouldn't then be surprised that we have yet to detect any alien transmissions.

[kittybeans]

Maybe the WOW! signal *does* repeat, just very infrequently compared to human attention spans. If civilizations tend to listen for thousands of years, then broadcasting a signal according to a pattern derived from prime numbers (for example), one blip per hundreds of years or so, will eventually get noticed, not so much by any individual of course, but by the civilization as a whole. They might also do that for energy concerns, given a certain energy budget, infrequent high energy blasts are more noticeable than a constant hum.

[solanumtinkr]

Currently wondering what would happen if the first transmission we receive asks why Firefly was cancelled :P

[robo]

It was an interstellar prank call!
Some alien bratt tried calling up the primitives but was quickly stopped by his angry father.

[kookyowl]

Knowing humanity's luck it was probably an emergency distress signal, sent out moments before the species went extinct.

[HC-cbyp]

One burst and then never again makes me think of a submarine, hiding under the water, and someone's alarm clock goes off. SHUT THAT OFF! THEY'LL HEAR YOU! and off it went...

[pauliether.c.guy.]

John I can't get enough of your videos I got to tell you when I'm on the train going home from work I look forward to watching your videos even some of your old ones I watch all the time I love your channel your channel is on my top ten list. When I see a message telling me that you have a new video posted I get so happy thanks keep up the good work big guy

[RepublicD]

If we dont broadcast on thr hydrogen line so not to pollute it, maybe alien civs think the same. Would be sad.

[RVGmetallicasaw]

What we really need to do is put a bunch of radio receivers on the ISS and tune them to the hydrogen line. Get an out-of-atmosphere base for the SETI, which would lead to clearer received transmissions, and a wider cone than a base on earth would have. WHo knows, we might just get that ready just in time for WOW 2.0.

[conexant]

Hi John, I love your videos, they're concise and full of thorough thought out ideas and information grounded in a well established understanding of science!

[batuhandemirel]

I am following your channel from Turkey. Your videos are simply awesome. I have watched many of them more than once. I wish, I could meet you one day, and talk about the universe with you. Best wishes... Keep up the good work!