Originally published at: Astronomers detect a particularly strange radio "heartbeat" from a distant galaxy | Boing Boing
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Boing Boing: “Come for the shared dismay at political happenings; stay for the cool science stuff!”
I live in BC, work in STEM, have been to the excellent Observatory B&B in Osoyoos, and I’d still never even heard about the CHIME radio telescope until I read it here!
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The beings responsible will be here any day now, I’m sure.
(AKA “I’m not saying it’s aliens, but it’s aliens.”)
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Astronomers were stunned when, on a whim, one of them fed the signal through a Morse code decoder. The message was simply “THEY COME FOR US YOU ARE NEXT” over and over.
They became terrified when the message just simply stopped in the middle of the word NEXT.
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Obligatory…
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This is exactly what I came for!
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Aliens? Oh, come on! A particularly distinct heartbeat? My years of watching television have taught me that it can only mean one thing:
That galaxy is in looove.
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The Dominion Observatory is about 30 minutes north of Osoyoos. I pass by it all the time, or at least the sign for it. I’ve been meaning to go there for the better part of a decade now. They offer tours and everything, for parts of the facility, anyway. I’m not sure if they tour everything, like CHIME. I really need to get down and see what it’s all about.
Is the B&B you stayed one of those funky looking domes on the mountainside?
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“A countdown, as you can see. NGC 9743, somewhere in Canes Venatici. The
big spirals there are breaking up, and they‘re saying goodbye. God knows who
they think we are but they‘re letting us know all the same, beaming it out on the
hydrogen line for everyone in the universe to hear.”
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There are more things in the galaxy than dreamed of in your philosophy.
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It’s just a microwave oven, but in another galaxy.
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Does anyone here know galactic CPR? Anyone?
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“SETI reluctantly announced today that after decoding FRB 20191221A, the data confirms there is no intelligent life behind the signal. ‘All it said over and over again was "Make Andromeda Great Again.’”
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Yeah. Apparently Osoyoos is one of the driest, darkest areas of Canada, so most of our astronomical observatories are nearby. The proprietors of the B&B are in the area specifically because of the good conditions. They’ve got a legit home observatory complete with dome, and quite a big telescope. On clear nights, the proprietors will show guests some stuff through the telescope. We got fairly lucky the next morning, too, and were able to see Saturn during the daylight.
It’s been quite a while since we stayed there, but it looks like it’s an ongoing enterprise, with dates available in August: http://www.jacknewton.com/
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. . . a sign was hanging from a galaxy a hundred million light years away. On it was was written: I SAW YOU. - Italo Calvino
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Cool! That sounds like a great experience. A bed and breakfast with an observatory sounds like an amazing time, especially with a night sky like we’ve got around here.
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a “heartbeat”-like pulse of radio waves from a distant galaxy
So that means the galaxy is now a Person, right?
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A screaming comes across the sky.
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