The latest research has found that signals that were once thought to come from Proxima Centauri may be just echoes of Earth

Signals that once looked likely to come from Proxima Centauri may just be echoes from Earth. Astronomy, dedicated to finding technological signs (also known as technical signals) created by extraterrestrial agents in space, says a promising clue now makes this guess look like a false positive.

"The evidence suggests that the signal is interference from human technology, although we cannot determine its specific source," Sofia Sheikh of the Breakthrough Listen team said in a statement.

The Breakthrough Listen program helps support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and in 2020, team members using Australia's Parks Telescope reported finding an interesting signal when they aimed the telescope at Proxima Centauri, the nearest known planet beyond the solar system.

But after Sheikh's in-depth analysis of the signal, it began to appear less unfamiliar.

Andrew Siemion, from the University of California, Berkeley, who also leads the Listen science team, said: "In terms of this particular candidate signal, our analysis shows that it is extremely unlikely that it actually came from one of Proxima Centauri's emitters. However, this is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating signals we have seen so far. ”

Sheikh added: "The frequency spacing of these signals in the data is regular, and these intervals seem to correspond to multiples of the frequencies used by oscillators commonly used in various electronic devices." ”

So after decades of cosmic searching, the result is still "this is not an alien." But Breakthrough Program Executive Director Pete Worden noted that the latest report helps further fine-tune the process of filtering out false positives. "While we can't draw conclusions about true technical features, we are increasingly confident that we have the tools we need to detect and verify such features – if they exist."