# Strong Signal, Possibly From Proxima Centauri, Detected at Parkes Observatory **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2020, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710 "2020-12-23T06:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/21 "2020-12-24T03:45:37Z")
Nah, Centauri money is [ducats](https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Currency). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/22 "2020-12-24T12:15:54Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > However, the astronomers say the shift was in the wrong direction from expected - they expected a red shift, but it blue shifted. I’m not sure how they can make that determination. I think they must know the relative position and movement of Proxima b at the time the signal would have been emitted, and it doesn’t match the behavior of this signal. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/23 "2020-12-24T12:53:09Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > However, the astronomers say the shift was in the wrong direction from expected - they expected a red shift, but it blue shifted. Huh… blueshift means it’s moving towards us. So it was probably emitted from a spaceship on its way to visit to us! 😉 🚀 ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/24 "2020-12-24T14:51:54Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > This sounds weird. The flares aren’t solar if they’re on a star other than the Sun. And why would a SETI program be studying natural phenomena? It’s a remarkable coincidence that an organization that wanted to find signals from intelligent civilizations would find one while they were trying to do something else that’s not their mission. Ordinary people, including _The Grauniad_ “science journalists”, often don’t use terms like this accurately or precisely. Yes, it should be _stellar_ flare, but that’s an error by the article’s writer. The suggestion that they were studying such flares seems to be an error by @Sam_Stone. I can’t find any mention of that in the original article or the others I’ve looked at. Those articles do mention stellar (or “solar” [sic]) flares in the context of discussing how unlikely it seems to be for life to develop on the most Earth-like known planet in the Proxima Centauri system. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/25 "2020-12-24T21:50:28Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > This sounds weird. The flares aren’t solar if they’re on a star other than the Sun Correct. On a star other than our sun it would probably be more correct to say “stellar flare”. On the other hand, in Layman’s Land calling a different star than Sol “a sun” isn’t that unheard of. So depending on whether or not you’re talking to an actual scientist… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/26 "2020-12-24T22:20:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Or maybe a weather balloon, with a radio transmitter, or something like that. Wouldn’t a weather balloon change position such that its signal would not stay consistent over four hours (unless it was being purposely manipulated to mimic the position of Proxima Centauri… but how do you fine-tune a balloon’s position anyway?)? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/27 "2020-12-24T22:24:21Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > A radio [spectrum listing](https://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/960_mhz.html) states that part of the spectrum is for aeronautical radio navigation (things like DME) A professional writer once told me: “Don’t make your readers do more work than necessary. They have short attention spans.” In the future could you tell us what your initialisms are instead of expecting us to Google it? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/28 "2020-12-24T23:27:06Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Yeah, all the above possibilities are more likely than aliens. And even though there is a planet in Proxima’s ‘habitable zone’, the star gives off big tlares (which is why they were looking at it), and the planet prbits very close tontgd star and is likely tisally locked, which makes it a poor candidate for intelligent life. Even if this signal really is artificial\* in origin it that doesn’t necessarily bean the source is indigenous to the Alpha Centauri system. Another civilization could have sent a probe/expedition to the system and _that’s_ want transmitted the signal. \*Occam’s razor dictates this is either natural phenomena or an issue with out instruments. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/29 "2020-12-25T01:54:43Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > > > A radio [spectrum listing](https://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/960_mhz.html) states that part of the spectrum is for aeronautical radio navigation (things like DME) > > A professional writer once told me: “Don’t make your readers do more work than necessary. They have short attention spans.” > > In the future could you tell us what your initialisms are instead of expecting us to Google it? Thanks. I’m not he, but DME stands for “Distance Measuring Equipment” and was/is a 1950s tech for airplanes to determine their range to a ground based beacon. Simplifying mightily, the airplane emits a coded “beep” and the ground station replies with a same-coded “boop” and the airplane equipment measures the time difference from “beep” transmission to “boop” reception and converts that to a slant-range distance. The coding is how the multiple airplanes nearby can tell which “boop” is in response to their “beep” The specific frequency of the Proxima signal corresponds to a DME frequency used only by ground stations associated with small airports. The transmitters are live 24/7/365, and the signal is significantly modulated by the 1950s tech coding scheme. Bottom line being a normally functioning 982 MHz DME station is not a plausible source for the detected signal coming from the sky. Once we posit the radio source is a malfunctioning man-made radio, there’s no particular reason to assume the malfunction signal’s frequency is the same as it’s non-malfunctioning frequency. IOW, once we guess it’s a haywire device, it could be almost _any_ haywire device. As long as it’s hovering up in the sky in the correct direction for hours at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/30 "2020-12-25T02:03:33Z")
As long as it’s not Rap. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/31 "2020-12-25T02:04:49Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Huh… blueshift means it’s moving towards us. So it was probably emitted from a spaceship on its way to visit to us! 😉 > > 🚀 Well, I needed that to make the diagonal in my 2020 apocalypse bingo. > **[Almost Winning | 2020 Bingo](https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1860133-2020-bingo)** > > See more '2020 Bingo' images on Know Your Meme! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/32 "2020-12-25T15:50:50Z")
Not to argue with a meme, but when in 2020 were we on the brink of WWIII? ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/33 "2020-12-25T15:52:01Z")
“Coming of AntiChrist” is still open? Haven’t they been paying attention? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/34 "2020-12-25T16:00:48Z")
He didn’t come this year. (That’s what _she_ said!) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/35 "2020-12-25T16:09:38Z")
Are they sure this isn’t the microwave in the observatory break room again? It’s [happened before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(astronomy)) at that observatory. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/36 "2020-12-25T16:38:17Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Ordinary people, including _The Grauniad_ “science journalists”, often don’t use terms like this accurately or precisely. Yes, it should be _stellar_ flare, but that’s an error by the article’s writer. It was just a slip-up on my part. You get used to typing ‘solar flare’, and I just did it automatically. Proxima Centauri, not being Sol, does not have solar flares. It has stellar flares. > [@](#): > > The suggestion that they were studying such flares seems to be an error by @Sam_Stone. I can’t find any mention of that in the original article or the others I’ve looked at. Those articles do mention stellar (or “solar” [sic]) flares in the context of discussing how unlikely it seems to be for life to develop on the most Earth-like known planet in the Proxima Centauri system. No, my understanding is that Breakthrough bought some 30 minute observation windows from Psrkes while the scope was being used to monitor flares on Proxima. Breakthrough listen does not have hardware of its own that I know of, but uses its funding to buy trlescope time on other telescopes. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/37 "2020-12-25T17:06:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It was just a slip-up on my part. You get used to typing ‘solar flare’, and I just did it automatically. Proxima Centauri, not being Sol, does not have solar flares. It has stellar flares. The article in _The Guardian_ actually does say “solar” flares, so that wasn’t your slip up (or at least not yours alone). > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > No, my understanding is that Breakthrough bought some 30 minute observation windows from Psrkes while the scope was being used to monitor flares on Proxima. Breakthrough listen does not have hardware of its own that I know of, but uses its funding to buy trlescope time on other telescopes. That certainly makes sense. So, @Napier, there you go. The SETI scientists weren’t studying stellar flares. They just bought some time on telescopes that _other_ scientists were using to study the stellar flares. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/38 "2020-12-25T17:15:06Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It was just a slip-up on my part. You get used to typing ‘solar flare’, and I just did it automatically. Proxima Centauri, not being Sol, does not have solar flares. It has stellar flares. More poetically, it has _Centaurian_ flares. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/39 "2020-12-25T17:18:20Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Are they sure this isn’t the microwave in the observatory break room again? It’s [happened before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(astronomy)) at that observatory. “Dammit, Bob! You _have_ to properly close the door to the break room Faraday cage whenever you use the microwave. Read the sign!” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710/40 "2020-12-25T17:33:27Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Well, I needed that to make the diagonal in my 2020 apocalypse bingo. How fast is that Centaurian spaceship? If they don’t get here in the next few days it will be a 2021 alien invasion (or later) and you lose. On the bright side, there’s probably enough evidence for you to check off “powerful storms”, "historic floods:, and “mass extinction”. You might win that toaster oven yet! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strong-signal-possibly-from-proxima-centauri-detected-at-parkes-observatory/928710.md?page=3)