Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope – April 15, 1977. Astronomer Jerry Ehman listened to cosmic static from star systems Chi Sagittarii in constellation Sagittarius. At 10:16 pm Eastern Time Big Ear recorded an inexplicable 72 second burst of radio waves – Ehman circled the anomaly, jotting “Wow!”. 39 years later the strongest cosmic radio signal ever recorded, remains the only unexplained radio signal from space.
Enter former U.S. Dept. of Defense analyst Antonio Paris, now of St. Petersburg College in Florida. Paris suspects two “suspicious” comets (266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs, not identified until 2006 and 2008) created the “Wow!” kerfuffle. 1420Mhz is the radio frequency behind Ehman’s “Wow!” Coincidentally, the same frequency neutral hydrogen hums in the cosmos (space is anything but silent – click now to listen http://spaceweatherradio.com/ ) Logically comets contain a lot of hydrogen, hydrogen Paris theorizes wreaked havoc at 1420Mhz the evening of April 15, 1977. “Wow!”, nothing more than an inadvertent surge of hydrogen courtesy of meddling comets.
Next year 266P will pass Chi Sagittarii, 2018 sees 335P’s orbit following suit. Paris hopes to test his theory but faces some challenges – it seems all radio telescopes are booked. Undaunted, Paris started a crowd funding campaign to buy or build his own telescope. (Linked below)
In wonder of “Wow!”, the possibility of noisy hydrogen annihilating a cornerstone of early cosmic wonder left me a little grumpy. No worries, it took 6 minutes to grow up and jump on science’s band wagon. Kick discovery ass Antonio Paris of St. Petersburg College, I wish you well.