We can all relax: there will be no Independence Day-like invasion of Earth.
There was much excitement — and skepticism — when it was revealed earlier this week that a mysterious signal had originated from the HD 164595 star system that seemed to be intentional.
READ MORE: Have astronomers found an alien signal?
However, upon further investigation, the SETI Institute — an organization that has long been seeking alien transmissions — concluded the signal was unlikely to be coming from an intelligent source.
“We spent a second day looking for radio emission from HD 164595, this time stepping across the radio dial to cover all the frequencies observed by the Russian astronomers,” SETI reported. “We failed to see any signal greater than 0.1 Janskys in a bandwidth of 100 MHz, whereas the claim by the Russians was a signal of 0.75 Janskys.”
As well, the Russian news agency TASS reported that the signal detected was likely of interference.
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“Some time ago, in the spring of this year, an unusual signal was received, but its analysis showed that it was most likely a terrestrial disturbance,” telescope researcher Yulia Sotnikova told TASS.
The Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences also issued a statement, concluding with, “It can be said with confidence that no sought-for signal has been detected yet.”
While there hasn’t been a message received yet, astronomers will still be listening.
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