Just wanted to say this in case anyone doesn’t know because John didn’t say anything about it in this video, but this guy interviewed the man that discovered the Wow signal, Jerry R. Ehman, in 2019. Just thought that’s cool.
JMG your content is the high point of my life right now. No family and live way out in the woods. Times and life are incredibly hard right now, and your shows are one of the few things I look forward to every day. Thank you for your colossal efforts. 🙏🏼
Hang in there! It's good you have something like this to escape, but I hope you get something more soon. Life is tough sometimes. I've certainly been there myself.
That's so unscientific though. All these shorthands are unscientific. Your "whatever is most boring" is just a way for you to insert your own bias of what constitutes as boring. The saying "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is just another excuse for scientists to insert their own subjective biases on what they personally believe constitutes extraordinary. Occam's razor: It is not some kind of empirically provable law of nature and if we had adhered to it in the past we would never have developed our current model of the universe. What is more parsimonious to explain the anomalous precession of Mercury? A small planetoid we hadn't seen yet OR rewriting all the laws of spacetime? It depends completely on from which frame of reference you consider yourself to be parsimonious. Just another way for scientists to sneak in their biases and unspoken assumptions.
That was a really good, really relatable analogy. Many a night was spent by me sitting in front of a window looking at thunderstorms at night. There's something beautiful about them.
We unfortunately probably need aliens. Not for the reasons UFO evangelists say, but merely cultural reasons. Knowing we are not alone rules out some stupid, entitled, chauvinistic beliefs. Probably, hopefully even religions.
Great video, but I'm sticking with my theory that a Wookiee butt-dialed Earth. It's Occam's electric razor: "The coolest sounding explanation is the only one worth believing."
If we make contact with an alien race and they just so happen to look EXACTLY like a species we've already pictorialized in science fiction, how long will we wait to tell/show them? Would we hide it forever?
Not definitely, but it does narrow down what we need to look for to actually find them. Think of it as a way to increase precision to look for something very precise to look for.
A really, really interesting explaination of the famous "Wow" signal. So a Magnatar's energetic burst can stimulate a fairly coherent emission in a molecular cloud of hydrogen, a small and fairly dense (but not too dense) cloud, drifting just slightly in our direction. It does seem to check all the boxes. And explains why it never repeated. The Universe is strange, amazing, beautiful, and mysterious!
I never thought it was intelligent simply because it's just a pure signal with no information. As you'd expect something naturally produced to give out. We just couldn't come up with a source that fit.
I mean, I think the astrophysicist that runs the Cool Worlds channel said that it actually could have matched the start matetmathic pattern, But that by the time the second antenna panned trough that section, the signal had stopped, so they couldn't confirm if it or if it was just a coincidence Now we know it was probably just a coincidence
True, but our signals, by comparison, have been like whispers in a crowded stadium, whereas WOW was like you were sitting in the library and some jackass snuck up behind you with an airhorn.
Yep. SETI is all based on the idea of finding aliens who have deliberately set up a beacon because they want to be found. Our search parameters wouldn't find aliens whose emissions are coincidental, and that's fine because our instruments aren't yet sensitive enough to find accidentally broadcasting aliens any farther away than Alpha Centauri.
I'm not one of those who love mysteries. I want answers, I want to know how the world works. The Wow signal is one of those things I hoped would be figured out in my lifetime. Allthough it is not a definitive answer it is a plausible explanation. I can live with that.
Hey at least the government acknowledged UFOs and actually admitted they exist and have known about them this whole time. That happened in your lifetime. That's pretty crazy eh.
To me, the idea that civilizations more advanced than ours use "radio" (or any part of the electromagnetic spectrum) for interstellar communication seems fantastically naive, like a 19th century scientist asking, "When we go to the moon, what kind of balloon will we use?"
I agree, I for one am glad aliens are not trying to commynicate in any method. I fear if aliens could be that powerful, anything they do to communicate with earth on that scale, would render us into space dust before finishing the first 'H' of Hello.
on the other hand, the universe has very basic rules and guidelines that allow logic to function, and electromagnetic radio frequencies seem to be a very stable bet for communicating at light speed with other life
Radio isn’t the technology it’s just the wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation. However advanced your technology is, radio will still be used for some applications.
but ruling out electromagnetism altogether is even more naive, you have to be conscious of physical limitations. You would need some 5th force which should be easier to use for which we have absolutely no hint today. even if the Romans had come with XX century physics, we would still be using electricity and radio today. In more complex and refined ways for sure, but still the good old electromagnetic force anyway.
JMG video on the WOW signal update. Yup, definitely watching. Despite it not being an alien civilization it is still satisfying knowing one more thing has been answered.
That it took 50 years to come up with a plausible, _natural_ explanation of this event shows that we humans work at lightning speed - compared to the age of the Cosmos. 😉 Thanks for taking the time to make this video!
It's always been likely that the wow signal would be something mundane. Let's all be honest, if we ever do contact aliens it will probably be blindingly obvious.
In the 90's, I spoke to a guy who worked on some of the radio telescope gear at the university in town. That is, he was a radio engineer, not a cosmologist. The funny thing he pointed out was, if they exist, that a) either aliens are totally broadcasting and have been for decades, and we can't hear it because it's on a frequency band or technology we haven't conceived of, or b) aliens are broadcasting on the bands we're listening to, but they're so far away that even if they were broadcasting now, it would be hundreds or thousands of years before we'd pick them up. Either way, a species that wanted us to know they were there and saying "hello" would indeed make it obvious. There's still a bunch of rational reasons why we wouldn't have heard from them (yet) if they do exist.
I gotta say this is hardly mundane. Magnetars are EXTREMELY rare and violent bodies. If this is right, a signal propelled through a hydrogen cloud makes this event really really rare for us to witness and collect any data on.
@@trunklemcjeans True though given their estimated short lifetimes ~10000ish years the amount of magnetars out there are eerily high and likely to be an underestimate given the timescales between eruptions particularly from aging magnetars. The fact that a magnetar eruption from the other side of the Milky Way galaxy was capable of blinding Gamma and X Ray telescopes and shock compressing the Earth's atmosphere is terrifying.
Another fantastic video John, thank you! Even if I am a little heartbroken that WOW now has a natural explanation, it just reminds us how special we are to be able to detect these events.
As disappointing as this is... I love the honesty you've always brought to everything. Thank you for all your work and effort. You stick the facts and I for one greatly appreciate it. Instead of going for clout you go for the truth. Thank you.
This makes sense. There are so many things in our natural universe that we don't understand, yet. Our imagination and love of science fiction gets carried away.
Amazing!!! Thanks for the update JMG. I always thought the Wow Signal would end up being something like this - although I had no idea what that would be. Still lots of mysteries out there to crack. Keep them coming.
I still want to know what the “Bloop” we heard in the ocean was, the loudest sound ever recorded in the ocean, and nothing like it or close to it has been heard since. But I doubt we will ever find out what it was, and I’m confident it wasn’t a creature or living thing as many conspiracy theorists suggest, but a geological phenomenon or something similar, but it’s a fascinating mystery.
I almost hate to tell you this, but we also pretty definitively solved the mystery of the "Bloop" noise. Turns out it was a giant icequake, resulting in a huuuge chunk of ice breaking away from Antarctica. See: oceanservice (dot) noaa (dot) gov/facts/bloop.html
And to help confidence in this theory, we HAVE heard very similar sounds since then, also traced to icequakes. See: www.pmel(dot)noaa(dot)gov/acoustics/sounds/bloop.html
Very interesting, but depressing. The WOW signal was one of those mysteries I hoped would never get solved because it could have possibly been alien. Thanks for your uploads. They're always very interesting. I don't know how you don't have over a million subscribers.
It still could be. This is as likely as aliens. This seems to be almost like settling for a non-alien answer. This could very well also be the truth and the answer. My issue is that we are supposed to ignore the evidence of the WOW signal in the first place. Because it’s too fantastic. By this we should believe wholeheartedly is the answer. What if there is some believable evidence that this answer was set in motion by alien intelligence? Then you will see this shut down rather quickly like everything else.
I feel your pain. i feel that way about the more earth bound mysteries like: Amelia Earhart, The Zodiac, Jack the Ripper, Jimmy Hofa, The Roanoke Colony, what really happened to the Mayans etc. I would love to know the answer to these questions but at the same time, the mystery is captivating. And it does allow us to be a bit selfish and put our own little spin on what might’ve happened.
Dont feel disappointed. This was just a suggestion. Take it with a grain of salt. Look at mars and venus right next door for example. Scientists are struggling to confirm phosphine on venus even with all the high tech equipment. Also with regards to mars it was said mars had no water, then it changed to mars had water but the atmosphere was too thin to hold it, now the latest mars news suggest its underground in a vast subsurface ocean. And this is all next door, so imagine trying to decifer the wow signal.
no aliens we've MET! the universe is so remarkably massive, there exists the possibility of multiple intelligent civilizations being completely alone, due to the sheer vastness of such a space. hopefully if we do, they're nice :)
What I've always found an interesting coincidence is that both Voyagers- Voyager 2 on August 20th and Voyager 1 on September 5th- were launched shortly after the Wow! signal was received on August 15th, 1977. Along with "Star Wars" playing everywhere, the Summer of 1977 was a great time to be a space-obsessed teenager.
Yes, it _Is_ disgusting how many people whine about how wrong it was that other people weren't forced to pay for a project they themselves were unwilling to pay for voluntarily. As government programs go, it was useful, cheap, and relatively inoffensive. But it was still paid for under duress.
@@utoobia 😂😂😂 "Tree equity"? Yes I do have a problem with that, Pedro. The jungle is full of trees. There is (was) only one Arecebo Telescope... and it's not one your ilk are able to build or repair.
"Intelligent " beings in the Universe might be a rarity. I believe life is relatively common, but higher intelligence may require a big "luck " element. Nevertheless, let's keep searching!!
That was really cool of you to give an interview to that kid Luke who is undoubtedly just starting out on UA-cam like you did a few years ago, because of your fan base, you just gave him a much better chance of succeeding on UA-cam and that’s a very honorable thing to do for that young man. Way to go JMG!
I always wondered who decided not to talk on the universal communications band as they figure it. IF no-one talks on 21cm anywhere in the universe but just listens, what is heard? nothing.
Thank you for this impartial evaluation. I've wondered about the WOW! signal for decades. I was beginning to think we'd never get an explanation. I find this one logical and convincing. I heard it here first! Congratulations on your scoop!
Very cool sci-fi premise but chances are the "Wow!" radio source was hundreds or thousands of light years away, meaning it would be impossible for them to hear something and reply as Earth has been propagating radio signals for only 100 years. Still you've got a great idea- write a Halloween short story!
@@koreyjeffers6963 Because it’s the first real explanation we’ve had with science backing it up. The other explanations up to this point were based on mostly speculation.
I've been wondering for all this time what the signal was. I didn't really think it was anything to do w/UFOs, as there's plenty of evidence elsewhere about that. But this explanation is very compelling and it's nice to finally have something more solid to latch onto investigating. Thank you so much for sharing!
Outstanding content. You're easily one of the clearest and easiest online educators to understand (evidenced by the fact that I'm actually able to follow and understand what the hell is going on). Thanks for the great information!
Amazing. I had to give this an immediate and rare fully wide away listen. It's truly amazing that we got a likely answer. Fantastic summary, thanks John. Slightly bummed...but the search continues.
Oh that’s awesome! I’m definitely looking forward to this Thursday. I’ve always wondered about the Wow signal. This seems like the most plausible explanation yet.
Sigh......I bet you're right. Im sure he'll come up with another book to sell, where he complains about all the other scientists being closed minded to his genius.
Just as an asides: There's a game about being a SETI worker finding and recording signals from deep space called Voices of the Void. It's super underrated.
My guess was always some kind of naturally occurring maser, but I didn't have any idea of how exactly it could have happened. I'm not really disappointed exactly, because I'm certainly not hoping for aliens, but it's still a little bittersweet to have this mystery solved. Maybe the worst part is that this is one of your go-to topics! 😅 But I am glad it happened while Jerry Ehman is still alive.
@davidb2380 Already asked Jerry, and he tentatively said yes, but he needs sufficient time to read the materials and think it through. I also put Prof. Mendez in contact with the other living co-discoverer of Wow, Dr. Dixon, and they are corresponding. I just wish the third scientist in that group, Dr. John Kraus was still around, but he passed away at 96 years old many years ago. Beyond the wow signal, Kraus was a giant in radio astronomy and telescope design.
@@JohnMichaelGodier Thanks for your reply. Dr. Kraus was certainly a giant in radio astronomy. His text book on radio astronomy was by far the one most used in courses for some 40 or so years. He was also influencial in France, The Nancay radio telescope is a larger version of the Ohio State "Big Ear". I have not seen it commented elsewhere, but Prof. Mendez and colleague's idea also makes sense from the Physics. To get either 21 cm radiation or MASER radiation requires collisions between atoms to be relatively unimportant. This is why the Hydrogen clouds producing 21 cm radiation are both cold, like around 100 degrees kelvin, and very rarefied.
This is reminding me of the depleted uranium deposit they found at Oklo in west Africa. Would not have been predicted, but explicable as 'just one of those things that can happen in the universe'. Nearly anything that we need technology for, can happen spontaneously in nature, e.g. nuclear reactors, giant space masers. What a place we live in!
As soon as you said it matched the blue shift of local hydrogen clouds, I thought "Okay, so something blasted them with radiation momentarily and lit them up?" Yep, that's what it was.
I was born August 15, 1977. The day before Elvis died, and a week or two before both Voyagers launched. I'll never forget how old I am with those events around!
That was a fun year. The country was at peace, the Voyagers were launched, "Star Wars" was playing everywhere and the BeeGees "Saturday Night Fever" album was released that fall. If there was ever a time for aliens to make contact, that was it.
Yes, 30 sigma. So the famous letters 6EQUJ5 if you look, the signal strength was measured first with numbers, 1-9. If the signal exceeded that, it switched over to the alphabet and wow went all the way down the alphabet to U! It was the strongest non-interference signal that telescope ever saw across the 30 years it did SETI searches.
It could always be aliens. That's the problem, you can never rule out that the night sky is a hologram created by the Planet Jackers or something. The only way to know that it really is aliens is to rule out every other possibility. That's why, if you want to find aliens, you have to try to prove that it is not aliens. That's how science works. It's about facts, and facts are not in fact swayed by wishful thinking.
The degree of scrutiny to explain this phenomenon is how science is done: find out what it ISN’T as well as what it is…. I’ve wondered about this “Wow!” Forever myself, but sadly my belief that it wasn’t alien in source has been shown to be the case. Excellent work.
Still not a fan of the prevailing attitude , that if there is a potential non life reason something, no matter how remote the chances are, it completely.invalidates any potential for it to be considered life
Sounds like the more likely solution. Pity, it was nice having that potential there to tantalize us. Honestly the Drake Equation seems more and more to be excessively optimistic.
Just tell her you are gay, no need to hide it, you'll be happier, I'm sure she knows it deep down especially because you are willing end it for a dudes voice alone!
why would You artificially expand the length of the video by asking tons of questions instead of saying what You think? I'm at 9:22 and bored to death by the extension of rhetorical questions asked to amplify attention - I hate this method
Wow (no pun). Thanks for this synopsis. It feels really satisfying to finally have a plausible explanation. Also RIP Arecibo telescope, you were a trooper.
I can't put into words how it makes me feel when I see those deep field images. Goosebumps every time. Also really kicks in that human instinct to explore.
I can't believe it took 50 years, that's insane.
Thanks for taking the time to sit down for an Episode on my Podcast, JMG!
Everybody check out Luke's podcast and my appearance there!
What's the podcast about?@@JohnMichaelGodier
@@JohnMichaelGodier will do! Thank you both John and Luke!
The day before Elvis Died
Don’t believe everything you hear on UA-cam.
Just wanted to say this in case anyone doesn’t know because John didn’t say anything about it in this video, but this guy interviewed the man that discovered the Wow signal, Jerry R. Ehman, in 2019. Just thought that’s cool.
Worth noting Dr. Ehman is doing well and still with us. I can say no more.
@@JohnMichaelGodier That’s great to hear, thank you!
0:12 he mentioned it!
@@JohnMichaelGodier Can you tell us if you told him about the news at least?
The link is in the description
JMG your content is the high point of my life right now. No family and live way out in the woods. Times and life are incredibly hard right now, and your shows are one of the few things I look forward to every day. Thank you for your colossal efforts. 🙏🏼
my friend, i feel the same. this content serves an express purpose for me, comforting through education. JMG really is a wizard. best wishes dude!
Sorry to hear things are hard. You have good taste in content though. I love his channel too
Hang in there! It's good you have something like this to escape, but I hope you get something more soon. Life is tough sometimes. I've certainly been there myself.
Take care
I would be 100 percent super glad to be your friend my man! keep kicking ass! 🤚
I always had a feeling it was natural. The most BORING solution is usually the correct one.
Damn :(
I'm sorry but this was far from boring. The Wow Signal still tells the story of a colossally rare natural event, and that's super cool
Occum's razor
That's so unscientific though. All these shorthands are unscientific.
Your "whatever is most boring" is just a way for you to insert your own bias of what constitutes as boring.
The saying "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is just another excuse for scientists to insert their own subjective biases on what they personally believe constitutes extraordinary.
Occam's razor: It is not some kind of empirically provable law of nature and if we had adhered to it in the past we would never have developed our current model of the universe. What is more parsimonious to explain the anomalous precession of Mercury? A small planetoid we hadn't seen yet OR rewriting all the laws of spacetime? It depends completely on from which frame of reference you consider yourself to be parsimonious. Just another way for scientists to sneak in their biases and unspoken assumptions.
Best summary of Occam's Razor yet
The lightning and clouds analogy sold it for me
That was a really good, really relatable analogy. Many a night was spent by me sitting in front of a window looking at thunderstorms at night. There's something beautiful about them.
I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it.
Must have been Zeus wrath we guessed.
Just yesterday I watched JMG's year-old video about being alone in the universe being scarier than the dark forest. Now this.
"It wasn't aliens" is always a good starting point when conjecturing about such events.
You are rarely disappointed that way.
It's never lupus.
Until it is.
My grandmother has suffered with Lupus for years. 😢@citizen_grub4171
I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. It's certainly bittersweet though!
We unfortunately probably need aliens. Not for the reasons UFO evangelists say, but merely cultural reasons. Knowing we are not alone rules out some stupid, entitled, chauvinistic beliefs. Probably, hopefully even religions.
It's best to consider all possibilities but tie tham to some odds against.
Great video, but I'm sticking with my theory that a Wookiee butt-dialed Earth. It's Occam's electric razor: "The coolest sounding explanation is the only one worth believing."
Lmfao
BRRRRRRRRRRR
I am stealing Occam's Electric Razor
Occam you mad bastard you've done it again
If we make contact with an alien race and they just so happen to look EXACTLY like a species we've already pictorialized in science fiction, how long will we wait to tell/show them?
Would we hide it forever?
I just started this, and I'm afraid you're going to say it's definitely not aliens....
Not definitely, but it does narrow down what we need to look for to actually find them. Think of it as a way to increase precision to look for something very precise to look for.
I am not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens!
Until it's aliens 🤔
Even if we have detected aliens, you have to be comfortable with the fact 99% of the leads we have are logically going to be false.
@@JohnMichaelGodieryou’re the uncle everyone wishes they had in this life in which we liiiiiiiive.
I’m 39 years old.
A really, really interesting explaination of the famous "Wow" signal. So a Magnatar's energetic burst can stimulate a fairly coherent emission in a molecular cloud of hydrogen, a small and fairly dense (but not too dense) cloud, drifting just slightly in our direction. It does seem to check all the boxes. And explains why it never repeated.
The Universe is strange, amazing, beautiful, and mysterious!
it's really sad that i cannot longer tell whether it's an enthusiastic if a bit quirky worded human comment or an ai trying to farm likes
We're all gonna have to pour one out for Wow!
@@bpdafIt's an accurate summary. AI or not, that's good.
@@bpdaf I understand the revenue implications for a video ,but why "Farm likes " on a comment?
Is it some teque game?
@@bpdafwhy would a computer want likes? let’s use our brain
I can’t believe I got to see one of my child hood mysteries convincingly solved I’m gobsmacked. This channel is pretty awesome.
Instant click
Slightly delayed click
Click at the speed of "holy shit!"
Yup
I really need glasses. The "c" and the "l" looked like a "d" to me!
@@DemetriusSorvohungry for some?
I never thought it was intelligent simply because it's just a pure signal with no information. As you'd expect something naturally produced to give out. We just couldn't come up with a source that fit.
An alien broadcast could also be a beacon of some kind?
@@mikesomerset6338 ....but then it would contain data
I mean, I think the astrophysicist that runs the Cool Worlds channel said that it actually could have matched the start matetmathic pattern, But that by the time the second antenna panned trough that section, the signal had stopped, so they couldn't confirm if it or if it was just a coincidence
Now we know it was probably just a coincidence
Bless this channel. Please never sell out, and never compromise.
And yet we've sent messages for potential aliens, that...
a) don't repeat
b) aren't at the hydrogen line
True, and technically there are still a few candidates for such signals we have received.
True, but our signals, by comparison, have been like whispers in a crowded stadium, whereas WOW was like you were sitting in the library and some jackass snuck up behind you with an airhorn.
Yep. SETI is all based on the idea of finding aliens who have deliberately set up a beacon because they want to be found.
Our search parameters wouldn't find aliens whose emissions are coincidental, and that's fine because our instruments aren't yet sensitive enough to find accidentally broadcasting aliens any farther away than Alpha Centauri.
None of the signals we've sent have been serious attempts at communication. None were ever expected (or even intended) to be received by anyone.
@@nuru666
That’s the power of nature
I'm not one of those who love mysteries. I want answers, I want to know how the world works.
The Wow signal is one of those things I hoped would be figured out in my lifetime. Allthough it is not a definitive answer it is a plausible explanation. I can live with that.
Sometimes the best answer is accepting that we might never have all the answers or even get close to it, but always hope for more.
Hey at least the government acknowledged UFOs and actually admitted they exist and have known about them this whole time. That happened in your lifetime. That's pretty crazy eh.
@@spiritualsoul387that's not an answer. That's a coping mechanism
Without mysteries all is answered and that would be boring😅
@@pennywise5095 about as boring as not seeking answers
You’re my WOW signal John
🤣🤣🤣👍
This should be pinned 😆
He's mysterious and elusive but one day I will find him!
This person is creepy as hell. Look at their comment history.
Knock it off Dakota.
You should have over a million for the content you make at this point
To me, the idea that civilizations more advanced than ours use "radio" (or any part of the electromagnetic spectrum) for interstellar communication seems fantastically naive, like a 19th century scientist asking, "When we go to the moon, what kind of balloon will we use?"
I agree, I for one am glad aliens are not trying to commynicate in any method. I fear if aliens could be that powerful, anything they do to communicate with earth on that scale, would render us into space dust before finishing the first 'H' of Hello.
on the other hand, the universe has very basic rules and guidelines that allow logic to function, and electromagnetic radio frequencies seem to be a very stable bet for communicating at light speed with other life
Why? What would u use?
Radio isn’t the technology it’s just the wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation. However advanced your technology is, radio will still be used for some applications.
but ruling out electromagnetism altogether is even more naive, you have to be conscious of physical limitations. You would need some 5th force which should be easier to use for which we have absolutely no hint today. even if the Romans had come with XX century physics, we would still be using electricity and radio today. In more complex and refined ways for sure, but still the good old electromagnetic force anyway.
JMG video on the WOW signal update. Yup, definitely watching. Despite it not being an alien civilization it is still satisfying knowing one more thing has been answered.
That it took 50 years to come up with a plausible, _natural_ explanation of this event shows that we humans work at lightning speed - compared to the age of the Cosmos. 😉
Thanks for taking the time to make this video!
well played sir
It's always been likely that the wow signal would be something mundane.
Let's all be honest, if we ever do contact aliens it will probably be blindingly obvious.
In the 90's, I spoke to a guy who worked on some of the radio telescope gear at the university in town. That is, he was a radio engineer, not a cosmologist.
The funny thing he pointed out was, if they exist, that a) either aliens are totally broadcasting and have been for decades, and we can't hear it because it's on a frequency band or technology we haven't conceived of, or b) aliens are broadcasting on the bands we're listening to, but they're so far away that even if they were broadcasting now, it would be hundreds or thousands of years before we'd pick them up. Either way, a species that wanted us to know they were there and saying "hello" would indeed make it obvious.
There's still a bunch of rational reasons why we wouldn't have heard from them (yet) if they do exist.
I gotta say this is hardly mundane. Magnetars are EXTREMELY rare and violent bodies. If this is right, a signal propelled through a hydrogen cloud makes this event really really rare for us to witness and collect any data on.
@@trunklemcjeans True though given their estimated short lifetimes ~10000ish years the amount of magnetars out there are eerily high and likely to be an underestimate given the timescales between eruptions particularly from aging magnetars. The fact that a magnetar eruption from the other side of the Milky Way galaxy was capable of blinding Gamma and X Ray telescopes and shock compressing the Earth's atmosphere is terrifying.
What if they only filed first contact in the nearby interplanetary planning office without due warning? How were we supposed to know about the bypass
And also marvelously terrifying in a way no creature on earth has ever bore witness to
Wow. Didn’t think I would ever hear a satisfying explanation. Thank you. Looking forward to Dr. Mendez.
Another fantastic video John, thank you! Even if I am a little heartbroken that WOW now has a natural explanation, it just reminds us how special we are to be able to detect these events.
As disappointing as this is... I love the honesty you've always brought to everything. Thank you for all your work and effort. You stick the facts and I for one greatly appreciate it. Instead of going for clout you go for the truth. Thank you.
This makes sense. There are so many things in our natural universe that we don't understand, yet. Our imagination and love of science fiction gets carried away.
Things like these used to inspire science fiction. Sci-fi doesn't mean aliens.
I'm a simple man. I see a JMG video about the Wow Signal. I click it.
Word. Me too
Amazing!!! Thanks for the update JMG. I always thought the Wow Signal would end up being something like this - although I had no idea what that would be. Still lots of mysteries out there to crack. Keep them coming.
I can't wait for your interview with Dr. Mendez!
I've already decided it's an alien calling me about my car warranty, sorry.
No, DirecTV is sending me to collections. Again.
Please let that joke rest in peace
Space Gecko....
Not plausible. Car Warranty calls are scientifically proven to repeat with great frequency once detected
no wonder aliens havent picked up any of our signals yet. they know we'll just try to sell them something 😂
As Sagan said of Kepler: 'He preferred the truth to his dearest illusions...that is the work of science'
Sometimes the illusions are the mundane explanations.
It is supposed to be.
I still want to know what the “Bloop” we heard in the ocean was, the loudest sound ever recorded in the ocean, and nothing like it or close to it has been heard since. But I doubt we will ever find out what it was, and I’m confident it wasn’t a creature or living thing as many conspiracy theorists suggest, but a geological phenomenon or something similar, but it’s a fascinating mystery.
Wasn’t that already explained as being an iceberg?
Wasn't that determined to be a large iceberg breaking off a glacier?
I almost hate to tell you this, but we also pretty definitively solved the mystery of the "Bloop" noise.
Turns out it was a giant icequake, resulting in a huuuge chunk of ice breaking away from Antarctica. See: oceanservice (dot) noaa (dot) gov/facts/bloop.html
And to help confidence in this theory, we HAVE heard very similar sounds since then, also traced to icequakes.
See:
www.pmel(dot)noaa(dot)gov/acoustics/sounds/bloop.html
Wasn't it explained a year or two ago as ice calving in the Antarctic?
The only WoW signal I get are advertisements from Blizzard to return to their game I quit years ago called World of Warcraft.
Both have one thing în common, they are both soulless.
Very interesting, but depressing. The WOW signal was one of those mysteries I hoped would never get solved because it could have possibly been alien. Thanks for your uploads. They're always very interesting. I don't know how you don't have over a million subscribers.
It still could be. This is as likely as aliens.
This seems to be almost like settling for a non-alien answer.
This could very well also be the truth and the answer. My issue is that we are supposed to ignore the evidence of the WOW signal in the first place. Because it’s too fantastic. By this we should believe wholeheartedly is the answer.
What if there is some believable evidence that this answer was set in motion by alien intelligence? Then you will see this shut down rather quickly like everything else.
I feel your pain. i feel that way about the more earth bound mysteries like: Amelia Earhart, The Zodiac, Jack the Ripper, Jimmy Hofa, The Roanoke Colony, what really happened to the Mayans etc.
I would love to know the answer to these questions but at the same time, the mystery is captivating. And it does allow us to be a bit selfish and put our own little spin on what might’ve happened.
Agreed
I was thinking the same thing about 1 min before I read your message. Truly underrated science UA-camr!
Dont feel disappointed. This was just a suggestion. Take it with a grain of salt. Look at mars and venus right next door for example. Scientists are struggling to confirm phosphine on venus even with all the high tech equipment. Also with regards to mars it was said mars had no water, then it changed to mars had water but the atmosphere was too thin to hold it, now the latest mars news suggest its underground in a vast subsurface ocean. And this is all next door, so imagine trying to decifer the wow signal.
Wow! So, there are still no aliens.. now I'm sad again.
no aliens we've MET!
the universe is so remarkably massive, there exists the possibility of multiple intelligent civilizations being completely alone, due to the sheer vastness of such a space.
hopefully if we do, they're nice :)
I’d rather be alone than have visitors that could kill us in a few seconds. What about you?
Remember just because theres no evidence doesnt mean its not possible 😊
It’s never aliens
We're the "Aliens". Stardust and earth and here we are. On our planet star ship...safe travels
It was also from a region of space that didn’t have a lot of nearby stars. That’s what also made it strange.
What I've always found an interesting coincidence is that both Voyagers- Voyager 2 on August 20th and Voyager 1 on September 5th- were launched shortly after the Wow! signal was received on August 15th, 1977. Along with "Star Wars" playing everywhere, the Summer of 1977 was a great time to be a space-obsessed teenager.
And....confusing Elvis' death +goto Heaven..(?)
The story of the lack of funding for maintenance of the Arecebo telescope is just disgusting.
Yes, it _Is_ disgusting how many people whine about how wrong it was that other people weren't forced to pay for a project they themselves were unwilling to pay for voluntarily.
As government programs go, it was useful, cheap, and relatively inoffensive. But it was still paid for under duress.
The money went to “Tree Equity” instead. You got a problem with that?
@@utoobia 😂😂😂
"Tree equity"?
Yes I do have a problem with that, Pedro. The jungle is full of trees. There is (was) only one Arecebo Telescope... and it's not one your ilk are able to build or repair.
"Intelligent " beings in the Universe might be a rarity. I believe life is relatively common, but higher intelligence may require a big "luck " element. Nevertheless, let's keep searching!!
Let's keep looking! We don't know what we'll find!
That was really cool of you to give an interview to that kid Luke who is undoubtedly just starting out on UA-cam like you did a few years ago, because of your fan base, you just gave him a much better chance of succeeding on UA-cam and that’s a very honorable thing to do for that young man. Way to go JMG!
I always wondered who decided not to talk on the universal communications band as they figure it. IF no-one talks on 21cm anywhere in the universe but just listens, what is heard? nothing.
Thank you for this impartial evaluation. I've wondered about the WOW! signal for decades. I was beginning to think we'd never get an explanation. I find this one logical and convincing. I heard it here first! Congratulations on your scoop!
6:57 what if that's a way of checking for others without being too obvious. Amplify a natural phenomenon in the area and see if anyone reacts.
It's crazy it took half a century. Very interesting thanks for explaining it! I'm looking forward to Thursday!
What if the WOW signal actually says, "Hey, be quiet. They might hear you."
Very cool sci-fi premise but chances are the "Wow!" radio source was hundreds or thousands of light years away, meaning it would be impossible for them to hear something and reply as Earth has been propagating radio signals for only 100 years. Still you've got a great idea- write a Halloween short story!
I can’t express my love for this channel. You, the views, both visually and mental perspective, the knowledge are much appreciated. Thank you John.
I know it's folly to say but something about this explanation just sounds right. Never before have I felt this when it comes to WOW signal origins
Welcome to the club. This one actually feels like it fits.
Welcome to the club. This one actually feels like it fits.
@@koreyjeffers6963 Because it’s the first real explanation we’ve had with science backing it up. The other explanations up to this point were based on mostly speculation.
I've been wondering for all this time what the signal was. I didn't really think it was anything to do w/UFOs, as there's plenty of evidence elsewhere about that. But this explanation is very compelling and it's nice to finally have something more solid to latch onto investigating. Thank you so much for sharing!
From "Wow!" to "Awww".
Outstanding content. You're easily one of the clearest and easiest online educators to understand (evidenced by the fact that I'm actually able to follow and understand what the hell is going on). Thanks for the great information!
Can't wait for this one thanks for the upload
Thank you for making these complex scientific issues understandable without talking down to your viewers. It's this kind of content we need more of.
Ackchooally,
It was the aliens who used the cold hydrogen cloud to propagate and magnify their weak initial signal.
Then why was it not modulated?
Amazing. I had to give this an immediate and rare fully wide away listen. It's truly amazing that we got a likely answer. Fantastic summary, thanks John. Slightly bummed...but the search continues.
Aha… so the aliens made a neutron star flare just to send us a wow signal!
Oh that’s awesome! I’m definitely looking forward to this Thursday. I’ve always wondered about the Wow signal. This seems like the most plausible explanation yet.
I thought Pat Magnetar was a singer, John?
Hit me with your best shot, fire away! As the interstellar nebula sang as it was hit by the neutron star burst.
The title could've been, "I'm not saying it's not aliens...but it's not aliens." 😂
This amazing universe in which we *WOOOOOOOOW*
Finally, but no surprise being Wowed by you again! Thank you JMG!
Next week Avi will have a new theory that explains everything. Again.
Sigh......I bet you're right. Im sure he'll come up with another book to sell, where he complains about all the other scientists being closed minded to his genius.
Just as an asides: There's a game about being a SETI worker finding and recording signals from deep space called Voices of the Void. It's super underrated.
My guess was always some kind of naturally occurring maser, but I didn't have any idea of how exactly it could have happened.
I'm not really disappointed exactly, because I'm certainly not hoping for aliens, but it's still a little bittersweet to have this mystery solved. Maybe the worst part is that this is one of your go-to topics! 😅
But I am glad it happened while Jerry Ehman is still alive.
Alive and well :) We spoke to him yesterday and he's reading the relevant papers and monitoring it.
@@JohnMichaelGodier Would be very interested to hear what he thinks of the work. Maybe you can interview him on what his take is ?
@davidb2380 Already asked Jerry, and he tentatively said yes, but he needs sufficient time to read the materials and think it through. I also put Prof. Mendez in contact with the other living co-discoverer of Wow, Dr. Dixon, and they are corresponding. I just wish the third scientist in that group, Dr. John Kraus was still around, but he passed away at 96 years old many years ago. Beyond the wow signal, Kraus was a giant in radio astronomy and telescope design.
@@JohnMichaelGodier Thanks for your reply. Dr. Kraus was certainly a giant in radio astronomy. His text book on radio astronomy was by far the one most used in courses for some 40 or so years. He was also influencial in France, The Nancay radio telescope is a larger version of the Ohio State "Big Ear".
I have not seen it commented elsewhere, but Prof. Mendez and colleague's idea also makes sense from the Physics. To get either 21 cm radiation or MASER radiation requires collisions between atoms to be relatively unimportant. This is why the Hydrogen clouds producing 21 cm radiation are both cold, like around 100 degrees kelvin, and very rarefied.
This is reminding me of the depleted uranium deposit they found at Oklo in west Africa. Would not have been predicted, but explicable as 'just one of those things that can happen in the universe'. Nearly anything that we need technology for, can happen spontaneously in nature, e.g. nuclear reactors, giant space masers. What a place we live in!
Thank you!
As soon as you said it matched the blue shift of local hydrogen clouds, I thought "Okay, so something blasted them with radiation momentarily and lit them up?" Yep, that's what it was.
Yesssss, love your stuff
This is it for me, it’s been answered. Some may say hypothesis but I’m calling it a conclusion
I am so happy we never have to hear about the Wow Signal ever again.
When you started mentioning hydrogen clouds at the beginning I was like "Maser?". Super cool, I love when this sorta stuff comes up
I decoded the signal it went like this : "This is Zorgtorg from the alien spaceship Bugratzu are there any Earthlings listening?"
Nah it was all like "Earthlings, we are calling about your spaceships extended warranty"
"Haha, Yeah Zorgtorg I'm listening with your mama."
I was born August 15, 1977.
The day before Elvis died, and a week or two before both Voyagers launched. I'll never forget how old I am with those events around!
That was a fun year. The country was at peace, the Voyagers were launched, "Star Wars" was playing everywhere and the BeeGees "Saturday Night Fever" album was released that fall. If there was ever a time for aliens to make contact, that was it.
2:24 What the sigma? Above background? 30 of them?!?!?
Yes, 30 sigma. So the famous letters 6EQUJ5 if you look, the signal strength was measured first with numbers, 1-9. If the signal exceeded that, it switched over to the alphabet and wow went all the way down the alphabet to U! It was the strongest non-interference signal that telescope ever saw across the 30 years it did SETI searches.
@@JohnMichaelGodier what the sigma
Bro I have no clue just like you 😂 I think it takes some sort of knowledge first in order to decipher what he’s truly saying
JMG is an absolute treasure buried in an Internet wasteland of bland corporate content
It was aliens, calling to offer a blunt for you john.
the thunderstorm analogy really deepend my understanding and changed my view for the better!
Seems we're always trying to prove its "not aliens"
The aliens here started this sceptic attitude and gave it credit. Kinda helps if you wanna stay hidden.
Because the alien explanation is very much like invoking God. Even if he(or aliens) exist, it's a terrible explanation in the pursuit of knowledge.
It could always be aliens. That's the problem, you can never rule out that the night sky is a hologram created by the Planet Jackers or something.
The only way to know that it really is aliens is to rule out every other possibility. That's why, if you want to find aliens, you have to try to prove that it is not aliens.
That's how science works. It's about facts, and facts are not in fact swayed by wishful thinking.
The degree of scrutiny to explain this phenomenon is how science is done: find out what it ISN’T as well as what it is….
I’ve wondered about this “Wow!” Forever myself, but sadly my belief that it wasn’t alien in source has been shown to be the case.
Excellent work.
SPOOKY 👻
We have been subscribed to this channel for a long time. Always wonderful content. A million stars!
Yaaaaay
SEA and JMG uploads back to back?
Wow! What a force of Nature
I want to believe.......
Alien 1: Hey, did you leave that radio transmitter on
Alien 2: Opps. (Turns it off)
Still not a fan of the prevailing attitude , that if there is a potential non life reason something, no matter how remote the chances are, it completely.invalidates any potential for it to be considered life
Sounds like the more likely solution. Pity, it was nice having that potential there to tantalize us.
Honestly the Drake Equation seems more and more to be excessively optimistic.
I almost ended my marriage to click this
You're a wise person. Relationships end, knowledge is forever.
Just tell her you are gay, no need to hide it, you'll be happier, I'm sure she knows it deep down especially because you are willing end it for a dudes voice alone!
Almost? Weak.
Seems reasonable, better luck on the next video.
He's good but not marriage ending worthy
Fascinating. I love how we can go back and review old discoveries with new technology and learn new things.
Even if it's likely not aliens, I don't think this mystery is any less fascinating.
Great work to all involved!
Sounds like they don’t want us to believe it was aliens, therefore, its aliens 👽.
'They' don't want you to know about a lot of things.
What a scoop. Nice work man
why would You artificially expand the length of the video by asking tons of questions instead of saying what You think? I'm at 9:22 and bored to death by the extension of rhetorical questions asked to amplify attention - I hate this method
For the non-statisticians, "30 sigma" indicates a probability of no-kidding absolutely without a doubt positive confidence. Virtually zero doubt.
I have to save this for later...my brain is now on Overdrive because of it
Me 6 Hours Later: yaaaaassssssss....
Such an ingenious answer, just going undiscovered for so many years.
10:20 for the answer
+
Wow (no pun). Thanks for this synopsis. It feels really satisfying to finally have a plausible explanation.
Also RIP Arecibo telescope, you were a trooper.
embrace the coming of the trisolarans
they are already here
I can't put into words how it makes me feel when I see those deep field images. Goosebumps every time. Also really kicks in that human instinct to explore.