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- SETI Signal II
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- Continued from previous message.....
-
- THE SETI SIGNAL
-
- With this colourful and eventful history of mysterious signals from
- space behind us, let us turn to the matter at hand. The broadcast
- in question stated that this most recent signal originated from the
- star Virginis 70, which is believed to be of a similar type to our
- Sun, and specifically that the signal was coming from the planet
- that had recently been discovered in orbit around the star. When I
- first heard the report I was with someone, who although not versed
- in the possibilities of ET contact, was nevertheless just as
- stunned as I was by this announcement which could possibly lead to
- the confirmation of an extra terrestrial civilization. It was
- therefore quite amazing that I could not find any other mention of
- this report on the TV or radio news for the rest of that day, and
- totally dumbfounding when the Sunday papers that I managed to read
- did not give the slightest mention of the signal. The next step
- had to be to check with the BBC to see if the content of the
- broadcast was accurate, and if so then to try to find the source of
- that report in order to validate the claims. On the 13th of
- February I sent a letter to BBC Radio 5 asking for any additional
- information that they had on the report. To date I have not
- received a reply to either that letter, or to the subsequent
- telephone calls that I have made with reference to it.
-
- As I have already mentioned I have only been able to track down two
- other reports about the signal. The first is a rather sketchy
- account from the United States about a report on NBC News during
- the evening of the 28th February. Apparently the report mentioned
- that the Hubble Telescope had recorded a 'strange pulsating signal'
- coming from the Virginis system, in addition to showing photographs
- of the newly discovered planet. The second report comes from the
- Observer News Service and is perhaps the most detailed. It states
- that the signal was discovered by scientists working on the
- Serendip 3 project which is part of the SETI program. The signal
- was picked up by instruments dedicated to isolating any unusual,
- repetitive signals that may indicate an intelligent origin. When
- they studied the Virginis system they found that some of the signals
- were highly unusual and of a repetitive nature, which has prompted
- the group to undertake a new search of space near the star later
- this year. It is curious as to why there would be any delay in
- trying to find out more about this signal.
-
- Despite checking with the 'experts', none of the Astronomers that
- I have spoken to know anything about this signal, the BBC will not,
- or can not respond to my request for clarification, and the rest of
- the media has not run the story. It's times like this when you
- feel as if you are banging your head against the proverbial brick
- wall, after all these were supposed to be commercial and public
- service organizations that I was asking for information from, not
- government departments! I was therefore greatly relieved when a
- contact of mine who works for the BBC, but who also has a very
- healthy interest in the paranormal, offered to check out the story
- from the inside, and kindly searched the BBC Information and
- Newspaper libraries for any snippet of information on this report.
- Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the search turned out to
- be in vain as both sources proved to be spotlessly clean and absent
- of information.
-
-
- IN CONCLUSION
-
- In conclusion I must admit that I have the strong feeling that we,
- the general public, are not being told everything about this signal
- from the stars. Why would one of the most respected broadcasting
- companies in the world run a story and then have no record of it
- only a few weeks later? Why have only two other media sources
- mentioned the signal, and then only briefly, and why have the
- astronomers, who should be the first to know about this signal, not
- heard anything at all about it?
-
- As much as I am loath to admit it, it seems that a cover-up could
- very well have been in operation, but why go to all this trouble to
- suppress what should have been the most remarkable news report ever?
-
- Well there is a theory that we, the human race, are just not ready
- for contact with an extra terrestrial civilization and that our
- governments are acting in our own self interest in protecting us
- from the truth. Other theories state, despite almost
- incontrovertible anecdotal evidence to the contrary, that there is
- in fact no life outside of our solar system and that the Earth is
- the only planet capable of supporting life amongst the undoubted
- billions of planets in the Universe. However there is also another
- theory which suggests that our governments are scared of what ET
- contact will mean for the citizens of the planet Earth. They fear
- a breakdown in social order. They fear a 'complete' breakdown in
- conventional religion which is already in serious decline. They
- fear the loss of control.....
-
- I'll let you make your own mind up.
-
- COPYRIGHT 1996 Simon Spear.
-
-
- SOURCES
-
- Other Voices by George Hunt Williamson.
- Various quotes by Arthur C. Clarke.
- Beyond Reality bbs :)
- The UFO Forum on Compuserve.
- The Astronomy Forum on Compuserve.
- Are we Alone by Paul Davies Ph.D.
- The UFO-L Internet Mailing List.
- Personal correspondence.
- And most importantly BBC Radio 5 Live, who
- unwittingly made me aware of this incredible story.
-
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