A Peculiar Signal Fuels Alien Speculation

This 2013 photo shows the RATAN-600 observatory, where a recent microwave transmission has SETI researchers excited. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) It could be nothing. In the kinds of circles that search for transmissions from alien civilizations, it always is. But nonetheless, Russian researchers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have something intriguing they're pursuing. Let's heavily caveat this. SETI efforts worldwide have had plenty of promising signals. None of them have been confirmed to come from extraterrestrial civilizations. Several have turned out to be from terrestrial sources, and early on, two high profile "What ifs?" lead to the discovery of pulsars and quasars rather than alien megastructures or technologically advanced societies. Still, there's enough substance to this message that researchers working from the RATAN-600 observatory in Russia are investigating what might have caused it. They've pinpointed a likely star, HD 164595, which is located in the Hercules constellation. It's known ...