![]() ![]() One night when no one was listening, at 11:16 pm on August 15, 1977, the telescope received a startling radio signal. He received printouts a couple of times a week, which he examined for unusual activity. Radio astronomer Jerry Ehman was the person responsible for collecting and analyzing this data from Big Ear. Ten and above turned into letters of the alphabet. The numbers and letters measured a signal’s intensity. These printouts consisted of 50 columns (representing 50 channels) of alphanumeric figures. The telescope captured such fluctuations, and an old IBM 1130 computer processed and printed them. The idea was that extraterrestrial intelligence might communicate on this frequency since it was quite powerful and hydrogen makes up most of the universe. This frequency measures fluctuations in the energy of hydrogen atoms. Physicists Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi first suggested this theory in the late 1950s. The frequency band they used was 1420.40575177MHz, also known as the Hydrogen Line or 21 Centimeter Line.Ī radio telescope in New Mexico. They sought to program the telescope to look for specific signs of extraterrestrial life. It was more of a volunteer effort from radio astronomers with a passion for the subject. Wow!įrom 1965 to the 1970s, the observatory worked on the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project, among others. The radio signals would strike the flat reflector, travel across the aluminum field toward the curved reflector, bounce off it, and go into the feed horns for scientists to process. The telescope was stationary and depended on the earth’s rotation to search for signals. In the middle of the aluminum field lay two funnel-shaped “feed horns.” One reflector was curved while the other was flat but could tilt up or down. ![]() It consisted of a 152m by 109m aluminum flat area with two reflectors at each end. A real labor of love, it was completed in 1961 by inventor John Kraus, along with volunteers and university students. One well-known radio telescope was Big Ear, the nickname for the Ohio State University Radio Observatory. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |