The three-body galaxy in "The Three-Body Problem" is actually 4Proxima Centauri, 22 light-years away, is also the ultimate destination of human civilization in "The Wandering Earth", but the closest galaxy to the Sun does not seem to be calm.
On April 29, 2019, the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia, aimed at Proxima Centauri, its main mission was to study the star's frequent huge flares, and the secondary mission was to find signals of intelligent civilization near Proxima Centauri, and finally this observation with a dual purpose led to an unexpected discovery: one in 982002 MHz frequency signal, characteristic of Proxima Centauri.
This is because listening to Proxima Centauri is not a key goal of the astronomical community, and the mysterious signal detected this time was actually discovered by astronomers working with the Breakthrough Listening ProjectThis is an ambitious plan launched in 2015 by Russian billionaire Yuri MilnerWith a budget of $100 million, the project intends to scan at least 1 million stars over 10 years by funding radio telescopes around the world to try to find traces of extraterrestrial civilizations.
Currently this signal is named BLC-1, which stands for:"Breakthrough Listening Candidate No. 1"., because it stands out in several ways, first of all its frequency of 982 MHz, which is not a band that the technology of human civilization can reach, and it also exhibits a slight Doppler effect, which means that the source is not fixed, but is on the move.
Specifically, astronomers believe that this signal source is located on a planet near Proxima Centauri, because Proxima Centauri is known to have at least two planets, Proxima Centauri B and Proxima C, where Proxima Centauri B is a terrestrial planet that, like Earth, is also located in the stellar habitable zone, and although it may be tidally locked by Proxima Centauri, it is theoretically possible to maintain a suitable temperature near the dawn and dusk line to evolve civilization.
Although many people think of this signal as an extraterrestrial civilization, the scientific community is still divided, with some arguing that the frequency close to an integer value indicates that it is of terrestrial origin, while others point out that it is highly unlikely that two habitable planets are so close to each other in the vastness of the universe that otherwise the number of intelligent civilizations in the entire universe is likely to be greater than the total population of the Earth today.
However, some scientists believe that the signal may be a beacon or repeater of an alien civilization, and Proxima Centauri or Proxima Centauri B is just a relay station for the signalThis idea is present in "Chrono Contact"., except that Proxima Centauri has been replaced by Vega, and if this is the case, there must be other galaxies in the Milky Way that act as nodes in addition to Proxima Centauri, and this interstellar communication network may cover the entire Milky Way.
The current excitement around BLC-1 reminds many people of the WOW signal in 1977, which is still a signal that has never been solved and never appeared again, and it has been inspired by it for decades that astronomers have been looking for extraterrestrial civilizations, and there is only one thing that is certain, that is, the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe, and all the achievements of human civilization in the past are pale in the face of this discovery.
Whether Proxima Centauri's signal is a cosmic coincidence or a beacon from a distant civilization, it reminds us of the vastness and near-infinite possibilities of the universe, and human civilization as a part of the thousands of civilizations in the universeMaybe it's really the most advanced civilization in the universe.
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