Could 2019 be the year we finally make contact with aliens?
After scientists discovered a radio signal from billions of light years away, it’s possible, says David Barnett. But we’re more likely to find microscopic bugs than little green men
A few weeks ago the journal Nature published two peer-reviewed reports put together by scientists at the Chime radio telescope project, situated in the Okanagan Valley in Canada’s British Columbia.
Chime – which stands for Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment – maps the universe by using thousands of antennae to collect signals emanating from the night sky, and then uses the biggest processing system in the world to build up a picture of the galaxy… and beyond.
The reports published on 9 January caused a measure of excitement first in the academic world – the findings were simultaneously presented to the American Astronomical Society – and then in the wider media.
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