The anomalous signal from HD 164595 has attracted some comments and a bit more research. First the readers:
But was it just one blip?
Another: [picture not available, darn it]
On the SETI @ Home forums Eric Korpela, who saw the raw report and is listed as a project scientist for SETI @ Home, opines:
We believe a signal when
- It is persistent. It appears at the same spot in the sky in multiple observations.
- It only comes from one spot in the sky.
- If we reobserve the target, the signal is still there.
Things that add to believability
- Its frequency/period/delay does not correspond to known interference.
- Its Doppler Drift rate indicates that it is exactly frequency stable in the frame of the center of mass of the solar system
- Its properties (bandwidth, chirp rate, encoding) indicate intelligent origin.
Unfortunately the observing method used by the Russian team does not permit many of these things to be determine. 1. The signal was not persistent. 2. The signal was gone when the target was reobserved. 3. The signal frequency/period/delay cannot be determined. 4. The signal Doppler drift rate is unknown. 5. Many sources of interference, including satellites, are present in the observing band.
So it appears the initial answer for the reader is Yes, just one blip so far, and perhaps this is a lot of fuss over nothing.
