SPACE & PHYSICS
Alien hunters detect mystery signal
Words by Rafi Letzter
The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) hosts the Parkes Observatory radio telescope
© Getty
Astronomers hunting for radio signals from alien civilisations have detected an ‘intriguing’ signal from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star system to the Sun at just over four light years away. Researchers are still investigating the discovery, and the data has not been made public, but the signal is reportedly a narrow beam of 980 MHz radio waves detected in April and May 2019 by the Parkes telescope in Australia.