A radio technosignature search towards Proxima Centauri resulting in a signal-of-interest

Abstract

The detection of life beyond Earth is an ongoing scientific endeavour, with profound implications. One approach, known as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), seeks to find engineered signals (`technosignatures') that indicate the existence technologically-capable life beyond Earth. Here, we report on the detection of a narrowband signal-of-interest at ~982 MHz, recorded during observations toward Proxima Centauri with the Parkes Murriyang radio telescope. This signal, `BLC1', has characteristics broadly consistent with hypothesized technosignatures and is one of the most compelling candidates to date. Analysis of BLC1 -- which we ultimately attribute to being an unusual but locally-generated form of interference -- is provided in a companion paper (Sheikh et al., 2021). Nevertheless, our observations of Proxima Centauri are the most sensitive search for radio technosignatures ever undertaken on a star target.

14 pages, 4 figures (+3 supplementary figures). Published open-access in Nature Astronomy

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Cited by in corpus (17)

• Analysis of the Breakthrough Listen signal of interest blc1 with a technosignature verification framework
• Sensitive Multi-beam Targeted SETI Observations towards 33 Exoplanet Systems with FAST
• Multibeam Blind Search of Targeted SETI Observations toward 33 Exoplanet Systems with FAST
• A Green Bank Telescope search for narrowband technosignatures between 1.1-1.9 GHz during 12 Kepler planetary transits
• The most sensitive SETI observations toward Barnard's star with FAST
• COSMIC's Large-Scale Search for Technosignatures during the VLA sky Survey: Survey Description and First Results
• Simulation of the Earth's radio leakage from mobile towers as seen from selected nearby stellar systems
• An Interferometric SETI Observation of Kepler-111 b
• Multibeam SETI Observations toward Nearby M dwarfs with FAST
• Simulating high-time resolution radio-telescope observations
• Polarization Criterion in Targeted SETI Observation
• SETI in 2021
• Dual-Backend Multibeam Position Switching Targeted SETI Observations toward Nearby Active Planet-Hosting Systems with FAST
• Narrowband Radio Technosignature Search toward 3I/ATLAS with FAST
• An Improved Machine Learning Approach for Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation in FAST-SETI Survey Archival Data
• The VLA and High-Frequency SETI: Expanding the Search for Life
• Searching for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems with current and future missions