Scientists from the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) assert that the signal detected by China’s telescope is of human origin, not extraterrestrial.
Dr. Dan Werthimer, a researcher at the SETI Institute and at the University of California, Berkeley, who is also a co-author of the first research project on signals believed to come from Kepler-438—the most Earth-like planet in the constellation Lyra—recently spoke with Live Science.
He confirmed that the narrow-band radio signal announced by Chinese researchers in their hopeful statements about extraterrestrial civilizations was actually categorized as “interference from human devices”, a point the Chinese team briefly mentioned in their comments.
Dr. Werthimer expressed no skepticism, instead confirming to Live Science that this is indeed interference.
“Sky Eye” of China, the super telescope that detected the strange radio signal – (Photo: XINHUA)
He noted that natural sources typically do not produce narrow-band radio signals. Scientists captured three of these signals, seemingly from space, in 2019 and 2022 using the world’s largest radio telescope—the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), nicknamed “Sky Eye”, which is conducting preliminary surveys of exoplanets in preparation for a five-year sky survey.
News about potentially extraterrestrial signals first emerged in a report published on June 14 in the official newspaper of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, claiming that the team had detected “some cases that may be technological traces from extraterrestrial civilizations.”
The statement quickly spread across Chinese state media and the social media platform Weibo before being reported by international press and Live Science.
“The major issue in this specific case is that we are searching for signals from extraterrestrial beings, but what we find are a million signals from people on Earth. They are very weak signals, but the equipment on this telescope is super-sensitive and can capture signals from mobile phones, television, radar, and satellites. And there are more and more satellites in the sky,” he explained.
The SETI scientist further commented: “If you are quite new to the game and you don’t know all the different ways these interference signals can infiltrate your data and corrupt your data, it’s quite easy to get excited.”
Some of Dr. Werthimer’s Chinese colleagues also expressed caution. “These are some narrow-band electromagnetic signals different from previous ones, and the team is currently researching further,” Zhang Tongjie, head of the Chinese Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group at Beijing Normal University, stated in the report.
According to Tongjie, the likelihood that the suspicious signals are some form of radio interference is quite high and needs further validation and elimination.
