A New Idea For SETI: Mapping the Mystery Radio Signals in the Sky, by James Bean
Carl Sagan in an interview on Science Friday back in the 90’s mentioned there are numerous brief unknown non-repeating radio signals coming from the sky, many apparently “emanating from the galactic plane of the Milky Way” where the greatest concentration of stars and planets are located. Doug Vakoch also mentions there are non-repeating short duration unknown signals in, “Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CETI)”. Because they don’t repeat, the assumption has been there’s nothing further to be done. Nada. Dead end. But what about creating a long-term database of all these signals? Given enough time, perhaps certain “hot spots” in the sky where multiple signals might emanate from will be eventually noticed. Maybe there are repeating signals if we did but know it. Thus far, no galactic ET radio beacon broadcasters have been found as we tune across the cosmic radio dial — the ET behavior we would wish for. Yet non-repeating signals have apparently been reported for years. Playing the cards we ARE dealt with might mean paying attention to those mystery signals. Some clues could emerge, perhaps pointing to stars or at least regions of interest that can be given greater scrutiny by those searching for SETI techosignatures and potential earth-like exoplanets.
