Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing

Trevor Collins

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
12285 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Or talk about thick aliens.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Okay, so if you look up at the night sky and you look at a star, commonly you hear twinkle, twinkle little star, right?

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

And you see the oscillations through the atmosphere.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

You're seeing kind of like the different densities of the atmosphere from heat,

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Well, similar to how a star can twinkle when you're looking at it, interstellar scintillation refers to a similar twinkling that occurs with radio waves.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

So again, we're still talking about the electromagnetic spectrum, we're just talking about a part that we can't see, but it also twinkles in a sense.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

In fact, scintillate literally means to emit sparks or sparkle.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

So this happens as emitted radio waves are refracted from variations in density as they travel through space.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Because yes, space is a near vacuum.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

There are different spots in space that have different densities, et cetera, et cetera, gaseous clouds and what have you.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

But

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

All of this and gravitational lensing moving near black holes, large stellar, large mass objects.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

All of this can change how radio waves move and make it to us.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Now, some researchers argue that if other dishes like one that's called the Very Large Array, it's in New Mexico.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

It is the quintessential 27 like white satellite dishes out in the desert.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

You've probably seen this in Independence Day.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

You've probably seen this in movies like Contact.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

When you have movies about hearing about extraterrestrial life, you're likely seeing the very large array.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

That's the name of it, which is such a science.

Red Web
Wow! Signal | We Caught a 72-Second Signal From Space, Then It Disappeared

Some scientists named that.