China claims that its “Sky Eye” telescope may have picked up signals from an alien civilization, according to Beijing Normal University.
The news: In a report released on Tuesday in Science and Technology Daily, researchers say they found “several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the earth.”
- These signals detected from the Sky Eye are “several narrow-band electromagnetic signals” that are different than those discovered in the past, the report said.
- According to coverage from KXAN Austin, electromagnetic waves are the most reliable carriers for “interstellar communication.”
- KXAN states, “Regardless of wind or rain, (the waves) can penetrate the earth’s atmosphere regardless of weather.”
However, there are limitations to this finding. Zhang Tongjie, a cosmologist from China who is known as “China’s top alien hunter,” per Insider, states that the signals could also just be radio interference.
- “The possibility that the suspicious signal is some kind of radio interference is also very high, and it needs to be further confirmed and ruled out. This may be a long process,” Zhang said, according to Insider.
About “Sky Eye”: The 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is the last single-dish radio telescope in the world, per Insider. This telescope was given the nickname “Sky Eye.”
- This machine is located in the Guizhou province of China and is the world’s largest radio telescope, according to Time magazine.
- Insider says the telescope was completed in 2016, costing an estimated $171 million.
- A report in Science and Technology Daily says that in 2018, Sky Eye was equipped with technology “dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations.”
- Sky Eye does this by scanning space for electromagnetic signals, while screening out artificial signals.
- In 2020, the telescope officially began its search for alien life, the report says.