Trevor Collins

And this is one of the main areas that the signal is theorized to have come from.

So in total, this very powerful signal came and hit the big ear and it lasted 72 seconds and it was picked up on only one of 50 possible channels.

Channels in this context refers to the different frequencies or frequency bands that this telescope was able to listen to.

And I think it's very interesting that it lasted 72 seconds.

We'll talk about why in a second.

But also the fact that it was so focused on one frequency, it wasn't like a burst across multiple.

All of this will go kind of hand in hand with our investigation and our theories as to what might have created this signal.

Why was it so focused and why was it so strong?

But like I said, it's important to note that the signal's duration was 72 seconds due to the physical limitations of this dish.

It wasn't that the burst.

Yeah, it's not that they're listening to the sky and for 72 seconds this thing came in, but rather it's the way the telescope is aimed at the sky.

So this telescope can only aim up and down, but it scans the night sky purely because it's affixed to the ground.

purely by way of Earth's rotation.

And when it's looking out into space, I'll give you the technical term, it's looking at about 15 arc minutes wide.

And to give you context, that's about looking at half the moon's width.

So if you were looking up to space through a straw almost, that's what this telescope is doing.

It's listening to a space half as wide as the moon is to the eye, kind of.

I mean, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence SETI, we'll talk about that, is...

a very fascinating program, but you're totally right.

Your instincts are totally right.