Scientists dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are investigating a mysterious radio signal from space—and if it is an alien civilization, there's evidence that it's a much more advanced one than our own, according to the New York Observer.
To be clear, nobody is saying it's an alien civilization, at least not yet, but the strong signal coming from the direction of a star in the constellation Hercules, 95 light years away from Earth, is interesting enough that SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) scientists are planning to monitor it permanently.
The star is known as HD164595 and is similar to our own sun. It has a warm planet similar to Neptune orbiting it, and while there hasn't been an earthlike planet discovered in its system, that doesn't mean there isn't one that hasn't been discovered yet.
Via Geekwire:
The signal conceivably fits the profile for an intentional transmission from an extraterrestrial source – but it could also be a case of earthly radio interference, or a microlensing event in which the star’s gravitational field focused stray signals coming from much farther away.
The mysterious signal spikes from the star were first detected in May of 2015 by a Russian Academy of Science radio telescope but weren't revealed to the international community until recently. The assumption is that if it was an alien civilization, it would have to be a far advanced one because of the ungodly amount of power it would take to send a signal of such strength from that far away.
