The Wow Signal - Actual Proof Of Alien Life? | Answers With Joe

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The Wow Signal is a 72-second radio burst that was recorded in 1977 that has defied explanation for 40 years, leading many to believe it might be proof of intelligent life.
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LINKS LINKS LINKS:
SciShow
• The Wow! Signal
Fraser Cain
• What Was The Wow Signa...
Graph: By Maxrossomachin - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
www.livescience.com/59442-ast...
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TRANSCRIPT:
SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has access to telescopes all around the world, constantly scanning the sky for signals of alien communication.
Processing all of this information is a gargantuan task that would require a massive supercomputer that SETI can’t quite afford. So they came up with a brilliant idea.
It’s called SETI at home. It’s a program you can install on your computer that processes tiny parts of that data in the background.
Spreading that data across thousands of computers around the world, they’re able to crank through mountains of information, without the mountainous cost of a supercomputer.
But back in the 70’s none of that existed. Signals from space had to be printed out and processed by hand.
Which is exactly what astronomer Jerry Ehman was doing on August 18th, 1977. He was going over reams of printouts when he found a massive spike in a certain frequency of radio wave.
It was a spike 30 times higher than the background noise, and it was so noteworthy, he literally wrote “Wow” on the page.
It has since become known as the wow signal, and it’s still confusing scientists 40 years later.
The Big Ear went into operation in 1963 and was initially put to use on the Ohio Sky Survey, which catalogued nearly 20,000 sources of radio waves between 1965 and 1971.
Since it was on the ground, the telescope basically used the rotation of the Earth to scan across the sky.
When it measured a radio signal, they could infer by the time of day what direction the telescope was pointing and match that with visual sky surveys to figure out what star or galaxy it came from.
In 1956 on the grounds of Ohio Wesleyan University, construction crews broke ground on a massive telescope the size of three football fields to monitor the sky for radio signals from deep space.
It was officially known as the Ohio State University Radio Observatory, because it was actually run by Ohio State, but it was more well known by its nickname. The Big Ear.
The Big Ear went into operation in 1963 and was initially put to use on the Ohio Sky Survey, which catalogued nearly 20,000 sources of radio waves between 1965 and 1971.
Since it was on the ground, the telescope basically used the rotation of the Earth to scan across the sky.
When it measured a radio signal, they could infer by the time of day what direction the telescope was pointing and match that with visual sky surveys to figure out what star or galaxy it came from.
So a popular misconception with the wow signal is that 6EQUJ5 is some kind of alien code that we received but it’s actually just a measure of signal strength.
Ehrman and others immediately started pointing telescopes at the spot where the signal originated, which is in the constellation Sagittarius, but nothing has ever shown up.
So, it’s not a star or galaxy or pulsar or black hole because we’d pick up more signals from that location. As far as we know, and we’ve looked there a lot at this point, there’s nothing there.
At least, no cosmic body that would normally produce a radio stream like that.
But the mystery actually gets deeper. Because the frequency that this signal was found on was 1420 MHz. And if you were paying attention in last week’s video about the Voyager missions, 1420 mHz is the frequency that hydrogen atoms expel photons during hyperfine transitions.
(also known as 21-centimeter line or hydrogen line)
This same frequency was used by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake when creating the Pioneer and Voyager plaques as a way to communicate with an alien species should they ever come across the spacecraft.

[@FerrowTheFox]

What is the most frustrating aspect about the whole WOW-Signal story is that while it shows all the telltale signs of a high-probability candidate (especially the frequency) we need to be sceptical and dismiss it as it was just a one time occurence and never showed up again. By scientifical standards, to verify it as a real signal we would've needed it to repeat. But here's the caveat: All signals (like the arecibo message) we ever broadcasted ourselves were also only transmitted once, because they take a lot of power. So, by our own standards we would dismiss our own contact-attempts...

[@joescott]

Stick around for next week's video. ;)

[@FerrowTheFox]

Oh I gladly will :D I'm new to your channel, but really enjoy your content. Subscription earned!

[@RODERICKMOLASAR]

Well, yeah, but how many times did anyone ever think to scribble, in a flamboyantly feminine hand, the word WOW adjacent to the printout? Huh?

[@bobleece1544]

Maybe, it was a last ditch effort by a dying alien to get help.

[@squirlmy]

@@RODERICKMOLASAR odd tangent! It was a different time; people practiced penmanship, and there was no swearing on TV and radio, much less overall. Would you rather it be known as the "F*ck! Signal"?

[@lolmysteries]

Scientists: "WE FOUND AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL SIGNAL!" Alien: "80085"

[@folbykleetwood7462]

Hehe

[@DillonFreasierB]

Also aliens: “.07734”

[@dumble]

@@DillonFreasierB hi

[@erikmolochko3953]

1420 Mhz bro.. good vibez

[@isshikiqutsutsuki4421]

They be loking at yutube lughing at us the be epic trooling

[@brandonowens9952]

On a KZbin channel somewhere in space there are Aliens talking about Voyager and assuming it’s a comet 🤣.

[@plankedskank]

Imagine. Aliens are like. "What the feck is that?"

[@tacosRtehtastiest]

ThemTube

[@divyanshusingh7767]

@Mitchell Hart but thats what we call aliens , don't we?😂

[@gabepotma414]

@Mitchell Hart it actually makes complete sense that ancient humans could construct the pyramids. Using a method called Sandstone sleds, where they would pour water over sand in front of the blocks (being pulled on sleds) to reduce friction and allow for less manpower to carry the blocks. I will agree that it’s very mind boggling that the Egyptians could align the pyramids perfectly with the stars however I wouldn’t put it past them to figure it out. It just makes absolutely no sense for aliens to travel potentially light years to construct a pyramid made of stone, only to leave afterwards, like come on that’s ludicrous. If these were intelligent aliens they would’ve just wiped us out and used our planet for resources, not build a monument that’ll eventually be nothing but dust again.

[@mahshshsrklingfa7031]

@Mitchell Hart late night history channel wants to know your location..

[@tieflingcorpse9817]

What if its aliens saying “hey, we got your golden record thing”

[@marccolten9801]

I'm not sure I like the idea of aliens fapping to an etching of our naked chicks.

[@admiral_vernon]

@@marccolten9801 please stop

[@Exploshi]

@@marccolten9801 lmao

[@tieflingcorpse9817]

@@marccolten9801 no one put that in your head but you man

[@marccolten9801]

@@tieflingcorpse9817 You think? Wait until the aliens find out about tentacle porn and declare war for insulting them.

[@KrisBendix]

Poor alien guy is waiting for reply probably.

[@noahheninger]

Kris Bendix Yes... Did we try to reply... Somehow?

[@cjprowe5]

When you get left on "read".

[@ylette]

And none has come since we've banned this frequency from use.

[@rjaybee5870]

We ghosted the alien.

[@ankitaaarya]

hahahahaah

[@billywd-phd5052]

Michael Brooks' book - "13 things that don't make sense" has a whole chapter on this, very interesting. In the book he notes that scientifically we cannot confirm it as an alien signal because we would need at least 2 such signals to confirm it. He then laments about the fact that all the signals we have sent into space was also just a singular signal and that if aliens picked it up, they would also scientifically dismiss it because of the lack of a follow up signal. In the final paragraph he notes that if it truly was an alien signal at least the "aliens" made the same mistake as we did.

[@capybaravangogh7427]

Tf is that final paragraph how did he know that aliens will do the same mistake just like what we do.He even dont know how intelligent aliens in space.

[@jhyland87]

Will buy that book!

[@thegoat-ishere4414]

Colin Atterbury wouldn’t we be sending multiple repetitive or different messages to the same direction at any given direction? Idk if that made any sense but I would assume we would be sending a lot of signals, unless I’m grossly underestimating the price of sending quality long distance signals

[@magnusbjarnisk]

It's also possible we were too late to get the first signal and the WOW signal was the latter one. Which would suck...

[@jayrodathome]

Legend Champion XD meaning we never got a follow up signal. So if it was aliens that sent it then they made the same mistake we did by only sending 1 signal to a specific area and therefore could be dismissed the same way we dismissed this. It’s a joke really that’s all.

[@lazyskull7949]

It's sad to think that if alien(s) sent the signal, than it's possible they're not even there anymore. :|

[@xcalium9346]

It would have been sent around 200 years ago. It's probable that they still exist

[@dyslexicbatnam1350]

@Hellstormkj64 999 5,000 what?

[@jonathanlindsey463]

@@xcalium9346 1843 years ago to be exact, if it came from a planet around a sun like star... of the 66 stars in that direction only one is sunlike and it is 1800 light years away... they have made great progress with it the last couple years, they now think we r within 10 years of having telescopes that can see if that star has planets around it... u can find out more, the observatories actively working on it in the usa, finland and south africa have a youtube channel called “the exoplanets channel”

[@Ripthatshitsfr]

Alien mom in planet Argo in Sagittarius: “tommy turn that radio down” 😂

[@divyamagrawal9071]

Ian Sonneborn tommy read quran about mohammad from earth🤣

[@callanhutchison1871]

Ha!

[@e.Kab.]

Did we send a radio pulse back at that 1420H frequency toward the location it originated? If you hear a knock on a wall shouldn't you knock back?

[@wasserungeheuer-918]

We already did but it takes 200 years to reach their solar system

[@KSR3]

@@wasserungeheuer-918 150 to go

[@woofmeowmeowwooffestival4774]

Hellstorm 69 u said 5 thousand on another comment...

[@jamiesaggers235]

@@woofmeowmeowwooffestival4774looks like his comments are produced by a random number generator lol.

[@erikmolochko3953]

@@jamiesaggers235 Ha! Got eem!

[@GregsGarage]

You're sure he didn't actually write MOM??? There may actually be a deeper meaning here.

[@niggacode7813]

Then it should be Mom! not MOM??? .. ;)

[@joshuatraffanstedt2695]

Greg's Garage it would be imom

[@Dragon-ul8fv]

Explain the upside down exclamation then.

[@RODERICKMOLASAR]

I can't stand it. HELP ME, LETTERMAN, HELP ME!

[@mr.boomguy]

Greg's Garage - MOM! GET THE CAMARA!!!

[@Forever-411]

The wow signal came from a consolation many light years away. Even if it were a signal, it wasn't sent to us during our present 1977. It was sent to us in the past. Long before the stone ages.

[@quake6360]

William Benjamin it wouldve been sent around 1777

[@Navaja09]

Quake thats less then 300 year ago. It would have taken way longer

[@quake6360]

Sebastian Nava How 😂 the signal came from 200 lightyears away, so it would take 200 years for the radio signal to reach earth lol

[@incogneeto982]

Quake you sure it wouldnt take longer if its 200 lightyears away? it would take light, the fastest thing in the universe, 200 years to get to us. radio waves should take even longer shouldnt it? nvm, just looked it up and they travel at the same speed. you were correct

[@yspr_vahl]

Bryan Casnaw bruh

[@joeperch4486]

Joe, At 2:28, you mention that because radio signals get scattered by our atmosphere, they tend to have a high signal to noise ratio. I think you mean they have a low signal to noise ratio. Otherwise they would be really easy to pickup.

[@exesion1]

Signal peak to noise floor.

[@thatfunkyduck]

Maybe he meant "high noise to signal ratio". Would that make sense too? Like noise/signal

[@tomasotreasaigh111]

WHAT! We banned that frequency? Has anybody considered that 'they' did the same? That 'Wow!' signal may have been 'someone' from a distant planet that was immediately told that they were not allowed to use that frequency for the exact same reason we dont use it... Oh that would be a massive facepalm.

[@anthonyhutchins2300]

I think you're missing the point... Lol

[@Tekrothebountyhunter]

"Scientists and historians say we made contact with extraterrestrials in the twenty-fourth century. But what if we did it sooner? What if we did it in 1977?" ---Someone in the future probably.

[@cjandersen]

My hypothesis: Some military engineer, using a military satellite that remains classified to this day, decided to prank those crazy kids over there at the university looking for aliens.

[@KSR3]

doesn't work that way

[@vincentsanderos8815]

Spoken like someone who when an extraterrestial race lands on our planet will dismiss this as "high ranked officers in top-classified military costumes in an attempt to create a scenario that shows how well the human race can handle the realization that there is in fact aliens and they are now greeting us on our own planet......."

[@vincentsanderos8815]

TermsofService Did you not read my comment? I am saying that it is proven, the WOW-signal IS proof that aliens exist.

[@JLHunter61]

@Joe Andersen Did you not see where Joe showed all of the information that is printed on the right-hand side? Because the earth spins at a constant rate, and because the "Big Ear" was stationary, the long sweep of the sky that it was forced to follow would allow for very precise triangulation, as well as a very precise form of stereoscopic interpolation. The signal was definitively placed as having originated from exactly where Joe stated. The VERY FIRST THING that these radio band listening posts are taught to do is to eliminate ANY chance that what you just hypothesized could happen. PERIOD. And once all localized sources are definitively ruled out, only then are the actual measurements considered as unassailable. Besides, in all of the years since the signal was first received, do you not think that every scientist worth his salt has thought and thoroughly ruled out the same idea? We would have stopped hearing about this signal decades ago if the signal was even only reasonably falsifiable, and not completely falsifiable. So, no, Joe Anderson, the signal was not a prank or an accident even, from a rogue satellite or a rogue military officer operating such a satellite. The signal was a hydrogen-band radio blast from somewhere in the great beyond. Perhaps, one day, we will receive another transmission? Who knows? But I hold out hope for just such an occurrence. As such, I have been an active part of SETI since 1999, receiving and analyzing signals apace. I eagerly await the next ET signal. This time, we will truly be ready.

[@IanSamit]

@TermsofService If you really understood science, you would know that the term "scientific proof" is an oxymoron! You can disprove a theory (though scientists use the term "falsify" rather than "disprove" but you cannot prove a theory because it's always possible that someone will come up with a better theory to explain a given data set. So when you say "Every single last extraterrestrial alien "story" **is** [my emphasis] either a hoax ...", that is no more scientific than saying "It must be aliens." Doubt is intrinsic to science.

[@bubbaho-tep3468]

It was an alien kids science fair project. Thanks to us not answering, the poor alien flunked.

[@DeathbyProxy]

omgggg nooooo XD I gotta draw that!

[@thatfunkyduck]

@Death by Proxy You'd better have finished the drawing by now...

[@PixartComAu]

Did anyone notice that the sum of all Wow signal values (6EQUJ5), if translated into proper decimal values, equals 100? Usually, under the bell curve (or the distribution curve, in this case, it is the 'signal-to-noise ratio distribution curve'), the total surface should be 1.00, which represents 100% of the signal values. Very strange, because the values truly represent the actual picture (of a distribution).

[@BillyAbston87]

Pfft yeah duh, we knew that....

[@jtors5]

After you artificially came to the sum you wanted, you made up further BS about the significance of the number. You could do this with any “sum.”

[@archiecunningham3734]

Tell us something we didn’t know already

[@zues287]

All of that is irrelevant, as the decimal numeral system is a human construct. The only reason we use the decimal system (base-10) is because we have a total of 10 digits on our hands to count with. An extraterrestrial civilization is just as likely to use a base-16 or base-8 numeral system, or any other number. If they have 7 digits on each hand, they might use a base-14 numeral system. I know this comment is four years old, but I wanted to point that out for anyone else watching the video years later, like myself.

[@Qwijebo]

And yet no one has deciphered this signal

[@popofabulous]

This is the best explanation of the wow signal I have ever heard. Thank you so much Joe!

[@nickv1150]

Thanks for explaining the signal. I had never heard of details on what the best numbers and letters meant.

[@asasial1977]

Nick Vargas nice to see him explain it properly as well. I've seen it described as an actual message or code instead of just a measurement of signal strength several times

[@SquirrelASMR]

I mustve seen 100s of wow signal videos, but nobody even knew how explain it as good as Joe!

[@miked.7909]

Clearest, most succinct explanation of Wow signal I've ever seen. Thanks Joe!

[@marieslabbert6009]

This guy explains everything so clearly that one can follow it very easily. For somebody who has no idea of maths or science, this was very interesting!!

[@RationalGaze216]

You frequently cover subjects I've already heard of, but you always explain it better or cover some detail I wasn't familiar with.

[@SMHman666]

David Martin He's quite easy to listen to, even though he talks fairly fast. Always has interesting topics.

[@BardicInspiration]

Great video as always Joe!

[@Wooskii1]

GREAT VIDEO! I've known about the "WOW" signal forever, and that hydrogen can create radio waves (the gold record), but for as much as both topics are talked about, I've never heard anyone mention the correlation between the two, or the ban on that frequency! Thanks.

[@bluelobster56]

Liked the video, but small quibble... a *high* signal-to-noise ratio is good signal. I think you wanted to say *low* for too much noise. (sorry, my numerical OCD kicked in)

[@KumarIndresh]

RD Simmers I noticed it too

[@douglaspreston3703]

That's why I always say poor or good SNR; that way I don't have a chance to mess up the numbers and feel a pang from my own OCD!

[@Dragon-ul8fv]

At least your comorbid adhd and emotional ocd didn't kick in. Just your numerical ocd.

[@CrazyBeardedGamer]

Whenever someone trivializes OCD, I have to wash my hands until they bleed, and cry myself to sleep.

[@jonathanbush6197]

Heh you beat me to it. I'm sure Joe loves my comments because they make him a better human being.

[@chrisgarcia6098]

Great video as always Joe, oh and btw I showed my family your movie, they loved it!

[@STR82DVD]

Great great video. Huge thanks. When you said you loved his penmanship; funny informative stuff lad.

[@therealEmpyre]

When you said that the Wow signal was in the direction of Sagittarius, I remembered that the galactic core is in that general direction. Maybe it was on the other side of the Milky Way, or in another galaxy in that direction, and there were signals in microwaves and up, but only radio waves could get through the core. That would explain nothing being seen afterwards. I had thought of it maybe being a fast radio burst, but those only last a small fraction of a second, while the Wow signal was much longer than that.

[@MineCartable]

I just did the math on how long of a time period passed between the Voyager launching, and us receiving the Wow signal. It's 40 days of time passing. If this signal did come from an Extra-terrestrial civilization who found the Voyager, they would have to be breathing down our backs. Even if the Voyager was going as fast as it is now, the aliens would have had to pick it up around Saturn. I think the hope is that it was a coincidence, because if it is connected to the Voyager, that means that they were pretty much on top of Earth, already.

[@votalis4089]

Unfortunately this post missed the point of the Pioneer and Voyager reference. Nobody thought it was a response to The Golden Record on Voyager or The Pioneer Plaque. But since Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched in 1972 & 1973. The math would be a little different. The reason the frequency is significant is because it's an attempt at a starting point in communication with a completely unknown intelligent species with whom you have no shared language. We used the number in our attempts at extraterrestrial communication and it's possible another lifeform would as well. This is because it's related to a measurable quality of the most abundant element in the universe, Hydrogen (that has a single proton, and all other elements are the result of fusion of this starting element). It's the most universal starting point for mathematical communication, so an alien species might try it too.

[@rileydavis4338]

This frequency is not special because of voyager. They had a reason for putting it on there that he explained in the video so I won't again.

[@Qwijebo]

VGER contacting the carbon based unit

[@vladdracul7810]

Thank you for the explanation of the alphanumeric code. I've watched many, many, many, many, many videos about the wow signal. Never understood what was special about it. You're the first that I've seen that explained the code. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks again.

[@bobjohnston4952]

I just found your show and I love it! Thank you.

[@jmsaguas77]

The saggitarius constelation is near the center of the galaxy, which means that you may have in that direction a great density of stars and other objects. That may have been an isolated event from one of those objects. It's just an idea. :-\

[@leifharmsen]

Oh yeah. Sag A. It might have been a radio burp from our local super massive black hole.

[@alanheadrick7997]

A strong signal is likely to be more local to our area and not distant.

[@alanheadrick7997]

@@leifharmsen It would likely repeat.

[@traininggrounds9450]

The scintillation theory is actually the best explanation. We all talk about entropy and the mass amount of probabilities in the universe. There is every reason to believe that signals can compound themselves at whatever frequency. This is just an example of common chaos theory in action but we want to dismiss it because of the probability? But that IS the reason for it occurring only once.

[@GoldenTV3]

Yes, but it's just as likely as aliens. You can't have your cake and eat it. Both are equally possible.

[@WestOfEarth]

I really appreciate the background info about the WOW signal. I knew about it, but had never heard anyone explain the alpha-numeric meaning behind it.

[@loopy7057]

You know what I think is amazing, I grew up in the 80s, 90s....I never heard of this "wow signal" until a few years back. Thank God for the internet making people more aware of the world and universe around them.

[@TrainTsarFun]

Yes - if something is banned - nobody will use it. That's a guarantee.

[@pairot01]

If it's internationally banned then radio manufacturers won't make their products with the ability to broadcast in that frequency. Yes, humans do go against the law but it's not like an electronics company is conspiring against SETI

[@175griffin]

It is possible for the average joe to make hydrogen emit radio waves. Maybe not to transmit a meaningful signal, but that's not what the wow signal was.

[@TheNipSnipper]

in 1977?

[@tryharddaddio]

The frequency band wasnt allowed but for those experimenting on frequency without knowing this ban on the band or even just grazing past it in their experiments might have triggered it

[@joshuatraffanstedt2695]

Train Tsar Fun yep. It worked so well with crack in the mid to late 80s..

[@DrRich-mw4hu]

Well explained Joe. Thank you, I was trying to explain the WOW signal to my son and you did all the work for me. The Tinfoil hat theory suggests the WOW signal was the last ditch call for help from a dying species.....Well done and thanks :-)

[@TheVegetarianBaker]

This was very fascinating. Great job Joe. :)

[@yarmokji]

Thanks for the shout out man! Keep up the good work.

[@Return_To_Sender]

1420 you say....Even the universe understands 420.

[@chase2559]

there is only 1 , 420. =)

[@TheWTFcakes]

At least 42 - the most efficient way for you to convert mass into energy would be to use a black hole ,and that renders 42% efficiency.... It make ya think

[@yourhandlehere1]

Don't forget 42 was the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything.

[@optionstraderbrian1696]

They found thc in asteroids. If that doesn't prove weed is a gift from God I don't know what does.

[@manitoba-op4jx]

Don't forget your towel, Arthur.

[@kangarooklown9841]

I love it when Charlie day talks to me about science

[@unbeautifulbarbie]

i think about this every time i watch him lol

[@spencerellis83]

Just came back to watch this after your Dyson sphere vid. Love ya joe and friends! That’s for years of excellent content

[@spencerellis83]

Also.....remember when you were 20 years younger 3 years ago?!?! 😂😂😂

[@robotaholic]

I'm an astronomy head youtube wastoid and nobody ever explained what the letters mean before. Thank you. I learned something 🤩 which is my favorite feeling in the universe. 🙏 thanks again!

[@Guust_Flater]

I read somewhere that they think it could be ship to ship communication of aliens. And that's the reason why the signal is no longer there because the ships aren't there anymore.

[@davidwindell]

Guust that's possible. I think it's more likely to be a beacon of sorts, "I'm here!" Somewhat like a light house. The amount of time it would take to get back around to us, especially on a rotating, revolving planet on a fast moving star is significant, if it ever would shine in our direction at all. The alignment required to intercept a signal on a fixed source like a planet that is in constant relative motion is astronomical, even if 'only' a couple light years away. It's either a dark military satellite or a true alien source IMO. We are just unlikely to see it a second time.

[@saloR.R]

mostly likely it's nothing

[@MCsCreations]

Dave Windell They though of it when discovered pulsars.

[@bjmendez6956]

I thought of it too. Alien ships communication.

[@joshuatraffanstedt2695]

Dave Windell we were unlikely to see it the first time.

[@samuelwoods8829]

Did it say that it tracked general location from which the signal originated? If so that makes earthbound origination arguments mute... right?

[@dantess2693]

Great vid as always Joe!

[@DUARTE99]

I am now addicted to this channel! Why did I not know about this until yesterday?!?!

[@powerstation0872]

I think this is probably the strongest evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe that we have. It's just too specific and seems to intentional. I'm not saying it's aliens, but I think it's one of the most noteworthy occurrences of its type.

[@harrybloom9213]

If we are really alone in this Universe, then I would say "WOW!!!"

[@thomasgabriel9845]

Wasn't expecting much from the title, but it was really well executed.

[@stephenmuth1425]

2:28 you meant *low* signal-to-low ratio methinks? excellent videos, BTW. Great to see someone who cares about the topics enough to do them justice.

[@minimead368]

Send a signal back!! you never know we could get another back saying “what took you so long”!!

[@andrejrockshox]

we did. many times. arecibo message.

[@rekenney100]

Some alien civilization hit the reset button on their Dyson Sphere!

[@fhialsdhkt43tg72]

You are my favourite Science-KZbinr at this point. Not only are you very pleasant to listen to, you are always arguing fact-based and in a way that shows competence in the subject

[@sarahej13]

You’re my favorite ❤️❤️ I watch your videos every night to help me sleep.

[@ambarpratapsingh8585]

Same here..What a coincidence 😎

[@FocusMrbjarke]

Wow

[@1TakoyakiStore]

Spaceball One! They've gone to letters!

[@rkp2215]

#1 Tako LMFAO

[@mcorrade]

wow this is the first time the "WOW" single was explained in a way I understood. Thanks Joe you re-ignited my interest in that signal........

[@ylette]

Finally a great explanation of why these random letters were wow-worthy.

[@pairot01]

Perez is probably second most common spanish surnames, after Rodriguez.

[@thenoobletlego]

Please do a video on Universal Basic Income, if it's not too political for your channel. I think you'd cover the topic excellently. Cheers.

[@mysidianbard5890]

Thanks for explaining that, I always knew about the "wow signal", but never understood what it actually meant.

[@sketcharmslong6289]

Cracked it! Signal reads: "New phone who dis?"

[@nathansmith3608]

Russians were prob testing orbital stick welding, IMO

[@TS-wf2rn]

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action Ian Fleming

[@HowBigistheMap]

MOM! Stop using the vacuum cleaner nearby the radio telescope!

[@marccolten9801]

No, no

[@amurray204]

Thanks Joe!

[@kenbirkin7753]

a well intentioned alien living in a xenophobic planet and broke the rules of contact till the alien space police rayed him.

[@jhyland87]

"A/S/L" in an alien language

[@RobMcCauslandArt]

Tangent cam LOL!! Great idea!

[@steveInman10]

great video !

[@nicolegagnon4642]

I did this exact same thing about 5 year ago . I downloaded the SETI program on my computer and it did its tho g for like a year ago and then POOF the whole program was gone from my computer. I was like dang did MY ,computer find something and they had to erase it for confidence? so weird

[@AB-ts3kl]

The Product Pixie I read that as "poof the whole computer was gone." I was very concerned about my SETI program ....

[@nicolegagnon4642]

+Snippy Snowflake what do you mean by this? I know there was spelling errors but I thought got my point across. but tell me what you mean, I won't get offended

[@fdsfds7339]

He's saying he thought you meant the whole computer disappeared instead of just the program and got worried lol

[@nicolegagnon4642]

+fds “Billiam” fds I wish KZbin had an edit option when you press and hold your comment, cuz dang my post made me look illiterate LOL. I meant *thing and * confidential instead of confidence I need to learn how to type slower

[@fdsfds7339]

it's fine we can still tell what you meant, he just envisioned it wrong lol

[@mrjava66]

You meant low signal to noise ratio.

[@Anaurodama]

!good explanation!

[@joshdavis6830]

I LOVE your content. That is all :)

[@than217]

"SOS! Please help we are in dire emerge..n.... *static*...."

[@fangzahn]

Aliens: Hi Earth: I have a boyfriend

[@topside3]

Love the shirt!

[@yatishlanke]

could u do a video on the LHC ..and what it had achieved so far? this video was great btw

[@kiranthalwal]

Can you do a video on parralel universe or dark matter???

[@planetfall5056]

He has a video about several possible explanation of dark matter already. Parallel universes would be cool though.

[@joshuatraffanstedt2695]

Gaming with Techy he has one about the multiverse.

[@christopherkleinbach5237]

Where's Jody foster when we need her.😥😖🥺

[@johnbryant8603]

Thank you Joe 📡

[@martingarcia4618]

Hi, I love your videos. Just one thing, in 2:25 you say "very high signal to noise ratio" and that's good for detect signals, not bad. Sorry for my english, it's not my 1st language. Cheers

[@tomduke1297]

i cant help but notice that you eliminated all(even the extremly unlikely) possibilities that arent aliens. and no i will not drag sherlock holmes in here to state the obvious.

[@MCsCreations]

Klingons. It must have been them. :|

[@RRW359]

Unfortunately, Sagittarius seems to be in the Gamma Quadrant. The Klingons wouldn't be able to go anywhere near it any time soon. Let's just hope that there isn't a race in that area that wants to infiltrate our society and exterminate us. I would explain more, but it's been 16 hours since I've -regenerated- slept and I have to go.

[@kensmith5694]

RRW: One of my favorite motivational speeches particularly for runners is: HALT YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED I figure that in my prime, that one would have gotten me to beat the 4 minute mile record.

[@RRW359]

Ken Smith I was actually making a DS9 reference (although in hindsight, I should have used a word other than "exterminate").

[@MCsCreations]

RRW LOL

[@thecamclassic939]

I say people in another universe sent it to us

[@BenSullinsOfficial]

OMG Tangent Cam!

[@Higuitamax]

Wow! Thank you. You changed my whole conception about the Wow! signal. I always thought the letters and numbers were the contents or our interpretation of them. How could we discover what it transmitted? It wasn't recorded on tape or anything, right? Bummer.

[@XNicx]

Do you think someone just bumped it on accident? They saw that poor guy in there just losing years of his life from a lack of sleep and was like *ya know what?* And then when it got so popular were like *awwww crap we can't tell him now... o.o* looool jk cool shit. The whole planet to agree on Anything is indeed incredible.

[@user-pl3nx2kb7o]

anybody notice the don't do drugs kids?

[@Sybaris_Rex]

No but luckily I'm not a kid.

[@rpratt3746]

great content. big fan

[@pdoutdoors7272]

Great video.

[@blurryface36900]

Humans : Spend millions of dollars, years of hard work to build a Gigantic telescope which could scan the sky!!! Finally gets signal!!! The 'wow' signal. *nothing happens*

[@isaacjoukhadar3138]

today the SETI project has billions of times more power of observation and Computing than in the seventies. how did they find such a strong, clear and appropriate signal? I suspect it was a sign planted to get funds for the project

[@musicalintentions]

Nice video. Nice shirt!

[@dwarfbunni]

when I first heard about this at around 13 it blew my mind and actually scared me quite a bit. as an adult I chocked it up to being a weird mystery from the cold war, I'm super glad that I finally got to hear someone with a brain explain this a little bit even if theres no definite answer

[@PedroHenrique-nc3em]

the aliens r like us and we are the girl they send a mensage but we will probably never reply it

[@cheaterman49]

Last time I was this early, I wasn't even a lustful spark in my parents' eyes.

[@Nilguiri]

Nobody cares.

[@fdsfds7339]

I care

[@Skelstoolbox]

a lustful spark.. or in the case of my parents, a man with a van asking a pretty woman if she'd like to come on a date with him.. no? well you're coming...

[@fatvizcaino1018]

The Cheaterman IM GONNA SCREAM

[@frankgeisenburg9208]

Well covered. My own personal (and deeply speculative) take: it was the death throes of an alien civilization. H-Bombs going off simultaneously that we caught 72 seconds of.

[@normhill6985]

Thank you so much.