The mysterious signal from the exoplanet – the extrasolar planet – closest to Earth has been decoded by planet hunters.

This mysterious cosmic signal was obtained by Breakthrough Listen scientists while observing Proxima Centauri with a high-powered telescope. Proximity is a red dwarf in the constellation of Centaurus, more than 4 light-years from Earth, and has two orbiting exoplanets.

However, the scientists concluded, a possible mysterious alien radio signal from Near Star is likely human technological interference, an echo from Earth.

“Evidence suggests that the signal is noisy from human technology, although we have not been able to pinpoint its specific source,” explains scientist Sofia Sheikh of the Breakthrough Listen team.

The mysterious signal was first detected by the Breakthrough Listen project in 2020 through the Parkes telescope in Australia. The project specializes in hunting for “technosignature” alien signals such as radio waves and other evidence of alien technology.

The initiative uses the largest radio telescopes in the world to record data across wide bands of the radio spectrum in the direction of a series of target objects.

After detecting the mysterious signal closest to Earth, scientists conducted further analysis of the signal and determined that the signal was not too strange, said Andrew Siemion at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, who led Breakthrough Listen’s scientific team leader said.

“In the case of this particular candidate, our analysis shows that it is highly unlikely that it actually came from a proximate source. However, it is certainly one of the most intriguing signals that has been detected. we see so far,” – Mr. Siemion said.

Scientist Sheikh further noted that the signals have a regular repetition frequency and seem to correspond to the multiple frequencies in the electronic oscillations commonly used in various electronic devices.

Decoding the mysterious signal source of the planet closest to Earth was published earlier this week in the journal Nature Astronomy.

After decades of searching in space, the result is still: “It’s not aliens”. However, Breakthrough Listen initiative executive director Pete Worden said: “While we can’t conclude a true technology signature, we are increasingly confident that we have the tools needed to detect and validate these technologies. signs if they exist”.

The Parkes telescope in Australia is one of the largest telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere. Since 2016, scientists have detected more than 4.1 million bands of potentially important radio signals. However, when analyzed later, most of these bands are usually emissions from human technology on Earth.