Mystery signal from Comet 67P confirmed by European Space Agency. [Updated: first close-up pictures]
The European Space Agency (ESA) today [11-11-2014] confirmed that it was receiving a mysterious signal from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In a post on its live streaming website, it described the signal as a “mystery song” and uploaded a recording with the caption: “Hear our comet sing.”
The confirmation follows months of rumors that the Rosetta mission was originally sent to explore a radio signal from the comet first detected 20 years ago. The November 12 landing of the Rosetta mission’s Philae probe will be live streamed to the world. [watch live below]
The ESA’s surprise announcement hints that the significance of the landing may go well beyond the historic first of humanity landing a probe on a comet.
Rosetta’s Plasma Consortium (RPC) has uncovered a mysterious ‘song’ that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is singing into space. The comet seems to be emitting a ‘song’ in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment. It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies have been increased in this recording.
The mystery signal is in fact “a song” being transmitted by the comet, presumably an oscillation in its magnetic field according to the ESA. The ESA did not say when it first recorded the song, but it does lend plausibility to the claims of the anonymous ESA whistlelower. The big question now is whether the song is a random composition of nature as the ESA implies, or was created by an extraterrestrial intelligence.
If the mystery signal today confirmed by the ESA was detected 20 years ago and led to the Rosetta mission, then it stands to reason that NASA and ESA believed that the signal was more than a random composition by nature. If extraterrestrials are wanting to announce themselves to a disbelieving world, transmitting a beautiful song from a remote comet does appear to be an elegant form of First Contact.
