(periodic chimes)
(faint rumbles) (whooshes) (whooshes) (whooshes) (whooshes) (whooshes) (chimes intensify)
(garbled radio chatter) - [Narrator] People think
that space is a quiet and desolate vacuum
of emptiness. Between the stars and planets, there exists a vast
realm of nothingness. However, space is very active. Traveling throughout the
Cosmos are a variety of signals broadcasting their presence
to anyone who will listen. Many of these signals
are stars, quasars and other celestial phenomenon. Yet some of these signals,
perhaps many of them, are extraterrestrial beings
talking to each other, and perhaps talking to us. (exotic electronic tones) (exotic electronic tones) Stars and planets each have
a unique radio signature. For example, Jupiter's
magnetic field hisses in size. (otherworldly tones) Neptune sounds like a
vast, desolate ocean. (rumbles and hisses)
(exotic tones) The rings of Uranus chime. (peaceful ringing chimes) And Saturn has an eerie
bold sound of wind and tone. (dark atmospheric tones) And of course the Earth
emits a multitude of signals from all the radio
transmitters around the globe, sending signals into deep space to anyone who can tune them in. (garbled radio chatter)
(radio interference) The question is, is there
anyone out there listening, and if so, are they
trying to contact us? Perhaps they already have. On August 15th, 1977, a strong narrow band
radio signal was received by Ohio State University's
Big Ear Radio Telescope. The signal appeared to
come from the constellation Sagittarius and bore
the expected hallmarks of extraterrestrial origin. Astronomer Jerry R. Ehman
discovered the anomaly a few days later while
reviewing the recorded data. He was so impressed
by the result, that he circled the reading
on the computer's printout and he wrote the comment,
"Wow!" on its side, which is how the event has
since been referred to. The entire signal's
sequence lasted 72 seconds, the window the Big Ear
was able to observe it, but has not been detected since, despite several subsequent
attempts by Ehman and others. Various hypotheses on the
source of the emission has been put forward. Although the possibility
of a natural origin has not been
completely discounted, to date, the Wow! Signal is
considered the best candidate for an alien radio
transmission ever received. In 2012, on the 35th anniversary of the Wow! Signal's reception, scientists at the
Arecibo Observatory beamed a response from humanity containing 10,000
Twitter messages in the direction from which
the signal originated. They attempted to
increase the chances of any intelligent life
receiving and decoding the celebrity videos
and crowd-sourced tweets by attaching a repeating
sequence header to each message, so the recipient will know that
the messages are intentional and from another
intelligent life form. That signal is now
traveling in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius
at the speed of light. One can only hope it is received by benevolent extraterrestrials. (peaceful electronic music) The Wow! Signal and our
response is not the first time scientists have intentionally
sent a signal into space with the hope someone
may receive it. In 1974, Carl Sagan sent
a broadcast known as the Arecibo message into
space via radio waves. The message, aimed at
ET was the most powerful radio broadcast ever beamed
into space by mankind. In comparison, the signal
sent out into space was a million times
stronger than that of a typical television
transmission. Directed to a star
cluster located over 25,000 light-years away, the pictorial message was
sent in hopes that one day we would receive a
similar response. The radio signal included
our planet's location within our star system, core principles of
math and science, and the antenna that was
used to transmit the signal, all characteristics
that an intelligent alien civilization
should understand. The message, prepared by Carl
Sagan and his colleagues, also included information
about our species, even our physical appearance,
as well as our DNA code. 27 years later in 2001,
a crop circle appeared shaking the
scientific community. A pattern appeared on a
crop field next to the UK's largest telescope and
observatory, the Chilbolton, where the world's
largest fully-steerable meteorological radar is located. This circle in wheat
looked like a response to the 1974 broadcast. It was considered by many as
one of the most impressive and important crop circles
ever to appear on our planet since the crop
circle, unlike others, carries a message, or better
said, a response from space. Describing a different solar
system in the Universe, the image of the
sender, non-human DNA, and some microwave antenna,
the Chilbolton crop circle was the ultimate response
we had ever hoped for. According to mathematicians,
the decimal equivalents of the binary code
were unchanged from
the Arecibo original, but the atomic
numbers of elements composed the basics of
life had been altered. Silicon, an element with
an atomic number of 14, was added precisely in
the correct sequence between oxygen and phosphorous. All of the information in
the crop image is consistent with a response from an
extraterrestrial source. Whether or not the crop
circle that appeared next to the Chilbolton was
in fact an alien response is still up for debate. However, many people are
firmly convinced that not only is the crop circle
of 2001 a real message from another intelligent alien
civilization in the Universe, but we receive similar
messages nearly every day. Indeed, messages from
space have been around since the inception
of radio itself. Nikola Tesla, the
inventor of radio, was convinced he received
messages from aliens at the turn of the 20th century. Tesla was the first to
attempt to communicate with neighboring worlds
using radio waves. In 1899, he was at his
laboratory in Colorado Springs driving monstrous surges
of power into the Earth and also beaming energy outward from the 280-foot
tower he had built. He had instruments to record
electromagnetic disturbances from all around. During the tests,
Tesla began picking up odd data on his instruments. He was sure that this was
a signal of some sort. Keep in mind that
no one at that time could have been transmitting, other than Marconi who was
just beginning tests in Italy. The signals came periodically
and with such a clear suggestion of number and order
that they were not traceable to any cause then known to man. Tesla was familiar with
electrical disturbances produced by the Sun, the aurora
borealis and Earth currents, and was sure that
these variations were due to none
of those causes. - [Voice Actor] A purpose
was behind these signals. They are the results of an
attempt by some human beings, not of this world, to
speak to us by signals. I am absolutely certain
that they are not caused by anything terrestrial. The feeling is
constantly growing on me that I had been the first
to hear the greeting of one planet to another. The Martians, or the
inhabitants of whatever planet had signaled to us,
would understand that
once we had caught their message across
the gulf of space, and had sent back a response, to convey a knowledge of
form by such means is, while difficult, not impossible, and I have already
found a way of doing it. - [Narrator] Did
Tesla's experiments
transmit radio signals to some of our nearer planets? Had Tesla unintentionally
detected signals from another civilization or
did he simply make an error? Probably we'll never know. Because of his
financial problems, the large part of his research
notes and other papers were auctioned off after his death. Also lost are much of his
other research papers. How much of Tesla's work
remains hidden and confiscated? It's unknown, and thus, much of his scientific
work of great value has been lost forever. (exotic electronic tones) In a rare case
published in 2016, scientists have discovered,
not radio signals, but rather, light beams
emanating from space that could be extraterrestrials
trying to communicate. The claim of two scientists
that they may have found evidence of intelligent aliens is raising some
astronomers' eyebrows. Appearing in the journal Publications of the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific, the pair's study
reports that 234 stars out of over
two-million surveyed, have signals in the form
of light pulses they say are best explained by
intelligent ETs from far away. After discussing a couple
of explanations for what could be causing the
signals, the study states, "finally, we considered
the possibility, "predicted in our
previous published paper, "that the signals are
caused by light pulses "generated by
extraterrestrial intelligence "to make us aware
of their existence." What's more, these signals
have exactly the shape that scientists would expect
to see from intelligent aliens, according to the study. But the Berkeley SETI
Research Center says more research is necessary
and it is too early to unequivocally attribute
these purported signals to the activities of
extraterrestrial civilizations. The organization said that
they will observe some of the stars in question using a
nearly eight-foot optical telescope called the
Automatic Planet Finder, and that they look forward to
consulting with the scientists behind the controversial claim. The controversy comes
onto the heels of new data about a strange star that's
been dimming in recent years leading some to speculate
about an alien megastructure. Tabby's Star, an F-class star
located in the constellation Cygnus with an official
long numerical name, has befuddled many scientists
due to its light emissions. Unusual light fluctuations of
the star were discovered by citizen scientists as part
of the Planet Hunters Project in September of 2015. Several hypotheses have been
proposed to explain the star's large irregular
changes in brightness as measured by its
unusual light curve, but none have fully explained
all aspects of the curve. The leading hypothesis, based on a lack of
observed infrared light, suggests a swam of cold,
dusty comet fragments in a highly eccentric
orbit near the star. Another hypothesis is that of
a large number of small masses in tight formation
orbiting the star. However, the most common and
perhaps frightening theory is that the changes
in brightness could
be signs of activity associated with intelligent
extraterrestrial life constructing a Dyson's sphere. A Dyson's sphere is a
hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses
a star and captures most or all of its power output. This energy could be used
to sustain a civilization indefinitely and would
explain the 20% loss of light output from the star. If not a sphere, then
possibly a swam of satellites, space stations, or even
ships in close formation near the star could cause
this dimming effect. The SETI Institute's
initial radio reconnaissance of Tabby's Star, however,
found no evidence of technology-related radio
signals from the star. A fundraising campaign was
led by Tabetha Boyajian, the author of the initial study on the star's
anomalous light curve. The project proposes to use
the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network to
continue observation of the star in the future and observe
it in additional wavelengths to reveal new details
on the composition of the objects
surrounding the star. The campaign raised
over $100,000. Enough for one year
of observations. Scientists believe the
likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence being the
cause of the dimming is low. However, the star remains
an outstanding SETI target because natural explanations
have yet to fully explain the dimming phenomena. (moody electronic music) Strange signals from
space have occurred many times in the past. Most are either not confirmed, or do not repeat so
they can be clarified. In 2016, a star in the
constellation of Hercules briefly attracted media
attention after it was reported that a possible SETI
signal had been detected from the direction of the
star in the previous year. The signal was only heard once, and never confirmed by other
telescopes and it is thought to have been due to
terrestrial interference, though no one knows for sure. It was observed only
once for two seconds by a single team at
a single telescope. Several attempts to find
and record the signal were made by astronomers
around the world. No signal was detected at
the position and frequency of the transit reported
by the Reitan Group. In May of 2015,
Russian astronomers
received a weak signal from a solar system some
94 light-years away. That system has a star
similar to our sun. There's one known planet
circling that star, about the size of Neptune
and very close to the star. The signal was unusual in
its design and beam shape. Astronomers thought the
signal was interesting, but since it didn't repeat,
they have nothing more to go on. Italian scientists were
baffled by nearly two-dozen radio sources from deep
space that could potentially be coming from
extraterrestrial life. Italian scientists
spent several months observing the signals and could
not pinpoint their source. The absence of light in the
optical or ultraviolet spectrums rules out stars as the source. On May the 18th of 2016, the
scientists wrote they had detected significant emissions
in the soft X-ray band for nine of the
investigated sources. Because these signals were
coming from deep space, it was not apparent which
specific star may be the origin. The Italian scientists requested
further infrared studies of the area to
determine their nature. "Humans should be extremely
weary about answering "any signals from
alien civilizations." That's the stark warning from
Professor Stephen Hawking, who fears extraterrestrials
would quickly conquer our planet. The renowned astrophysicist
voiced the fears during his new online show Stephen
Hawking's Favorite Places. He believes there could
be life on other worlds, but warns a meeting
between civilizations would resemble when Columbus
met Native-Americans, adding that "that
didn't turn out well." Hawking said as he grows older, he is more convinced than
ever that we are not alone. One day we might receive a
signal from a planet like this, but we should be weary
of answering back. Hawking references
his involvement in the Breakthrough
Listening Project, a 10-year 100-million-dollar
initiative funded by a Russian billionaire. This groundbreaking project
aims to fire tiny spacecraft into the furthest
reaches of deep space. This project also plans on
using the world's most sensitive radio telescopes to listen in
on 10 times the amount of sky than was previously achieved. Hawking said the real challenge
is to work out what aliens might actually be like. Fast radio bursts, or
FRBs, occur occasionally and no one knows
what is causing them. Usually an FRB
only happens once, a single burst coming from
an unknown part of the sky. But in a paper
published in Nature, researchers found a
repeating sequence of a total of 10 FRBs. Not only did these
bursts repeat, but their brightness
and spectra also differ from those of other FRBs. So now, instead of just
one strange category of weird radio signals,
astronomers have a totally new category to deal with. There is some speculation that, instead of being caused by an
explosion or other cataclysm, these repeating FRBs was caused
by a rotating neutron star, but they won't know until
they can get more information. The Universe is
teeming with weird and unusual radio signals. Many boggle the mind as to
where they may be coming from, or from whom, but space
is not the only place you can find strange signals. Here on Earth there are radio
transmitters sending signals that may be intended for
extraterrestrial ears. (peaceful atmospheric music) Here on Earth there
is a phenomenon of
bizarre radio signals you can listen to yourself. No one knows their
purpose, or in some cases, where they are being
broadcast from. They are called number stations, and could be a way governments
communicate with spies, or even ETs living
here on earth. Most assume a number
station is a category of shortwave radio stations
characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers addressed
to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations
use speech synthesis to vocalize numbers, although the digital modes
such as phase-shift keying and frequency-shift
keying as well as Morse code transmissions
are also used. UVB-76, also known
as The Buzzer, is the nickname given
by radio listeners to a shortwave radio
station that broadcasts on the frequency
of 4625 kilohertz. It broadcasts a short
monotonous buzz tone repeating at a rate
of approximately 25
tones per minute, 24 hours a day. Sometimes The Buzzer's
signal is interrupted and a voice transmission
in Russian takes place. The first reports
were made of a station on this frequency in 1982. Its origins have been
traced to Russia, and although several
theories with varying degrees of plausibility exist, its
actual purpose has never been officially confirmed and
remains a source of speculation. The creepy and
sometimes incoherent
broadcasts from UVB-76 sounds like this. (periodic buzzes) (radio chatter in Russian) (periodic buzzes) Other number stations
have different broadcasts, such as these. (radio static)
(jaunty electronic melody) - [Automated Voice] Zero,
two, five, eight, eight. Zero, two, five, eight, eight. - [Narrator] Whatever
these signals are, they have mystified
listeners since the 1970s when they were first detected
by amateur radio enthusiasts. Since then, listeners have
monitored these stations and heard many bizarre things. Such as what appears to
be phone conversations, alien signals, alien language, and even a fight
with the microphone
accidentally left open. Using modern computer
technology and audio software, listeners have scoured the
signals for hidden messages and signals within signals. Both male and female
voices have been heard. Since their discovery, a small
group of station enthusiasts have kept a close ear
on these broadcasts, listening intently for
whatever they do next. Internet message boards and
groups have been founded to report unusual things
heard from these transmitters. Whatever these signals are,
like all AM broadcasts, they travel away from our
planet into deep space and may even be some
encrypted communication with extraterrestrial receivers, though their purpose
can only be imagined. (abstract electronic tones) It is entirely possible that
aliens have been receiving our signals and have been
messing with our own spacecraft. Space probe Voyager 2, during
its path through space, sent a message to
its base on Earth in a quite
unintelligible language. NASA, after over six years,
did not know the reason, but they know that it
cannot be accidental. Voyager 2 is the
first spacecraft to
leave the solar system in 2010 and it was
in the moments when
the spacecraft would enter into interstellar space
that a strange thing happened. NASA would consider
someone or something had assumed control over it. NASA rebooted the spacecraft's
computer to erase its message and now Voyager is
continuing on its mission. Voyager 2 also contains
a recording for ET should it ever be
discovered by aliens. Perhaps they did and
used the spacecraft's own transmitter to reply. NASA also reported that one
of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, known
as the STEREO B spacecraft, has made contact after
two years of silence. When STEREO B went quiet
in October of 2014, it was hardly
considered a failure. Its mission was only supposed
to last for two years. Like many NASA spacecraft, the STEREO probes have been
exceeding their shelf-life. For some reason, the team
still isn't sure exactly why, the spacecraft reacted poorly
to the hard reset that its sister probe breezed
right through. STEREO B let out a single
weak signal, then went quiet. 22 months after the
silent treatment began, STEREO B came back
in communication with the Deep Space
Network, the antenna system that NASA uses to pick up
signals from its missions. No one knows what it
was doing for 22 months. In 1999, a disaster
investigation board reported that NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the
Martian atmosphere because engineers
failed to convert units from English to metric. The $125-million satellite
was supposed to be the first weather
observer on another world. But as it approached
the red planet to slip into a stable orbit,
September 23rd, the Orbiter vanished. Scientists quickly realized
it was gone for good. It was pretty clear that
morning within half an hour that the spacecraft
had more or less hit the top of the
atmosphere and burned up. NASA blamed themselves
for the error, but was never sure exactly
what caused the crash. The Russian Phobos program
was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes
launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its
moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 1 was launched on
the 7th of July of 1988, and Phobos 2 on the
12th July of 1988, each aboard a Proton-K rocket. Phobos 1 suffered a terminal
failure en route to Mars. Phobos 2 attained Mars orbit, but contact was lost
before the final phase prior to deployment of
a planned Phobos lander. Phobos 1 operated normally
until an expected communications session on September
2nd failed to occur. The failure of controllers
to regain contact with the spacecraft was traced
to an error in which they had deactivated the
attitude thrusters. By losing its lock on the Sun, the spacecraft could no
longer properly orient its solar arrays, thus
depleting its batteries. No one knows if the
software was tampered with. Phobos 2 arrived
in January of 1989, and entered in orbit around
Mars as the first phase towards its real destination, a small
Martian moon called Phobos. The mission was flawless, until the craft aligned
itself with the moon. On March 28th, 1989, an
elliptical object was detected moving towards the satellite
seconds before it failed. All indications were that
the elliptical object had attacked the satellite,
which was now dead and left spinning out of control. On March 28th of 1989, TASS, the official Soviet
News Agency stated, "Phobos 2 failed to communicate
with Earth as scheduled "after completing an operation "around the Martian moon Phobos. "Scientists at Mission Control
have been unable to establish "stable radio contact." But the next day, a top official
of the Soviet Space Agency said, "Phobos 2 is
99% lost for good." It is important to note that
he stated the entire satellite was gone and not
just contact with it. Of great interest to ufologists
was an image captured either on or above
the surface of mars. Commonly called The Shadow, whatever caused this has
never been determined. If it was indeed a craft,
it is of immense size. On March 31st, 1989,
headlines dispatched by Moscow correspondents of the
European News Agency stated, "Phobos 2 captured
strange photos of Mars "before losing
contact with its base. "The space probe Phobos 2,
which was orbiting above Mars "when Soviet scientists
lost contact with it, "had photographed an
unidentified object
on the Mars surface "seconds before losing contact." Scientists described the
unidentified object as a "thin ellipse,
20-kilometers-long." It was further stated that
the photos could not be an illusion because it was captured
by two different cameras, as well as cameras
taking infrared shots. One controller at the
Kaliningrad Control Center concluded that the probe was
now spinning out of control. It would seem that
something struck or shot the Phobos 2 probe. It has long been rumored
that Mars and its moon Phobos are alien colonies. The surface of Mars is
covered with strange shapes, buildings that do not
appear to be natural, such as pyramids, square
buildings, runways. Phobos itself has an
unusual monument on it that has never been carefully
photographed or explored. An alien UFO anomaly
caused the explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket slated to carry Facebook's Amos-6
satellite to space. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
exploded on the launchpad 40 during a prelaunch static
fire test at Cape Canaveral September the first of 2016. The explosion, according to a
statement released on Facebook by Space Exploration
Technologies
Corporation, or SpaceX, was caused by an anomaly
that developed around the upper-stage oxygen tank. The official video of the test
firing of the rocket shows a UFO flying at an
incredible rate of speed past the space vessel
and launchpad just
before it exploded. A welder at the site
posted a message that, several minutes before the
launch, personnel at the site had spotted UFOs in the
sky over the facility. The video shows an object flying
over and past the launchpad seconds before the explosion. Conspiracy theory
analysis insist that
the mysterious object was not a bird or a bug. High magnification
analysis of the video, according to UFO researchers, shows an object that is
clearly distinguishable in appearance and
flight characteristics from all other birds that can
be seen in the video flying in the vicinity of the
launchpad before the explosion. To date, no one knows
what caused the anomaly, and with a UFO clearly
in the video frames, one can only imagine the
true nature of this incident. (buzzing electronic tones) To astronomers, black holes are the largest
vacuum cleaners of the Universe. Things go in but never come out. Two of NASA's space telescopes, including the Nuclear
Spectroscopic Telescope Array, miraculously observed
a black hole's corona launched away from the
supermassive black hole. Then a massive pulse of
X-ray energy spewed out. So what exactly happened? That's what scientists are
trying to figure out now. The gravity is so strong
around a black hole, that it was believed that
nothing in the known Universe could come out of a black hole,
even light gets sucked in. It seems that we have
been able to observe a phenomenon that has
completely changed how we thought black
holes functioned. An object actually exited
the corona of the black hole, and afterwards a flare of
X-ray energy followed suit leaving us completely baffled. When you think about
how huge this object is, it really makes us wonder
what it could possibly be. The black hole itself is
five-billion light-years away, and the object itself was
thousands of miles wide. The radio X-ray
transmission of this event was as much energy as the
Galaxy itself contains. This event has caused
many to speculate that aliens may be
using black holes to travel from one
galaxy to another, using their unique
power to fold space and travel great distances
in a matter of a few minutes. Sometimes flares are
seen in this area. Sometimes up to 10 per week. Some speculate that this could
be the traffic of spacecraft using the black hole as a
gateway to distant locations. If black holes and cosmic
space travelers are not enough, speech patterns have been
found in a radio signal released in 2004 recorded
by the Cassini spacecraft when it passed through
Saturn's rings. Judge for yourself what
the voices are saying. It is a very bizarre anomaly, but very much worth
investigating. (distorted oscillating tones) Many researchers claim to
hear voices in these sounds, leading people to wonder
if alien transmissions are caught in the rings of
Saturn and are bouncing around off the magnetic
metals in the rings. In fact, some of these odd
sounds could very well be from alien transmissions. Another weird phenomena is
called sky wave transmissions. This is where transmissions
from Earth are reflected back and are received years later. For example, on January
the 15th of 2014, Henry Palabyab recorded the
now famous Hindenburg Disaster radio transmission from 1937. He was testing his
home-brewed transmitter, recording his voice on 890KHz, and the radio broadcast came in. - [Herbert] Just holding,
just enough to keep it from... It burst into flames! Get this, Charley,
get this, Charley! It's burning and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh my, get out of
the way, please. It's burning, bursting into
flames and it's falling on the mooring mast and all the folks
agree that this is terrible. This is one of the worst
catastrophes in the world. - [Narrator] At first he
thought it may be a rebroadcast from a local station, but
later found out that other frequencies were also receiving
signals around the 1930s when he heard the station's
ID and did some research. Radio scientists predict
that in a few years, the famous Orson Welles
War of the Worlds broadcast may be able to be
received again. Sky wave propagations is
a known scientific fact and signals traveling through
space could get bounced around and received on Earth many times before they
eventually fade away. If aliens are more
advanced than us, many scientists believe
that they would not use crude radio transmissions
to communicate at all. All matter vibrates
at a consistent rate. Even the fabric of the
physical Universe itself has a vibratory frequency. String theory says
the Universe is made of multiple kinds of vibrations. The vibrations
are called strings because they are
one-dimensional, like the strings on a guitar. The theory is, if you
pluck one of these strings, you could send a vibration
throughout the Universe. In essence, you would
be using the fabric of the physical Universe
itself as a carrier and layering modulation on
that carrier for communication. Like the internet, you
could send binary messages, photos, video, voice
or music transmissions. Because the entire Universe
is being utilized to do this, distance is not a factor, because if you pluck
the Universe here, it would be heard anywhere
within the Universe itself. Aliens tapping in to the fabric
of the Universe as a carrier could be sending and receiving
transmissions in real-time from anywhere to anywhere. Like a cosmic or
galactic internet, entire civilizations could
be talking to each other, sharing images, schematics,
video and learning from each other without
actually meeting physically like we do with our
primitive internet. Vibration is energy,
energy is vibration. All matter is energy, therefore
matter does not exist. A rock is simply a very low
vibration that is so slow it appears to be solid. The space between objects in
a vacuum is actually energy. It is very low
vibrations, but exists and takes up space
as connected atoms. This is the fabric of the
physical Universe itself. If we could build a
device, a galactic modem, that uses this
fabric as a carrier, we could theoretically log
in to the universal internet and communicate with
extraterrestrials from nearby or distant galaxies. We could learn from them
and share information about ourselves while never
leaving our own planet. Imagine the advanced technology
we would gain from aliens many years older than us. Of course, any species using
this technology would have to be advanced enough
to have discovered it
in the first place. We may be like a child
discovering the internet for the first time. The Universe could be a vast
data-storage system and network for life forms to access. You could write data
into any physical object and store it there. If a universal
internet does exist that races have been using, how would they welcome us to
their cosmic-information party? Would we even be able to
understand the information being sent and stored there? How would we use
that information? Technology can be useful, or
harmful in the wrong hands. Are we ready to join a
galactic alliance of people freely communicating
across the Cosmos? (exotic electronic tones) If aliens are not using radio
and television to communicate, they may know that we do. It's possible they have tried
to interrupt our transmissions for messages they
feel is important. In 1977, an usual
transmission was received by United Kingdom
watchers from someone claiming to be an
intergalactic association. The voice, which was disguised, and accompanied
by a deep buzzing, broke into the broadcast
of the local ITV station Southern Television, overriding
the UHF audio signal of the early evening news being read
by Andrew Gardner from ITN, to warn viewers that
"all your weapons of evil "must be removed, and
you have but a short time "to learn to live
together in peace." The interruption
ceased shortly after the statement had
been delivered. Transmissions returned
to normal shortly before the end of a Looney
Tunes cartoon. Later in the evening,
Southern Television apologized for what it described as, "a breakthrough in
sound for some viewers." ITN also reported on the
incident in its own late evening Saturday bulletin. The broadcast took
over the sound only, leaving the video
signal unaltered, aside from some
picture distortion. The incident caused
some alarm locally, and attracted
considerable publicity in the next day's
Sunday newspapers. The winter 1977 24th issue
of Fortean Times Magazine featured a transcript
of what they described as the short message
that was broadcast. At times, it is
difficult to make out. However, here is
the entire message that was recorded
along with text. The message began with a
series of beeps, and then: (radio interference)
(garbled newscast chatter) - [Deep Voice] This is
the voice of Vrillon, representative of the
Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. For many years you have seen
us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now
in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers
and sisters all over this, your planet Earth. This is in order that you may
share in the great awakening, as the planet passes into
a New Age of Aquarius. The New Age can be a
time of great peace and evolution for your race, but only if your rulers are
made aware of the evil forces that can overshadow
their judgments. All your weapons of
evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now
past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the
higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves
worthy to do this. Small groups all over the
planet are learning this, and exist to pass on the light of the dawning New
Age to you all. You are free to accept or
reject their teachings, but only those who
learn to live in peace will pass to the higher
realms of spiritual evolution. Hear now the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the
Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. Be aware also that there
are many false prophets and guides operating
in your world. They will suck your
energy from you, the energy you call money
and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless
dross in return. Your inner divine self
will protect you from this. You must learn to be
sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is
truth, and what is confusion, (radio interference) Learn to listen to the voice
of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves
onto the path of evolution. This is our message.
(radio interference) We have watched you growing
for many years as you too have watched our lights
in your skies. (garbled radio chatter) Have no fears, seek
only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the
ways of your planet Earth. We of the Ashtar
Galactic Command thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the
planes of your existence. May you be blessed
by the supreme love and truth of the Cosmos. - [Narrator] To this day, the
source of the transmission has never been determined. But if it was indeed
an alien broadcast, it seemed to be a dire
warning for mankind, and yet hope towards the end. Though the message
occurred in 1977, it fits our current
political situation and world conditions perfectly. Is it possible that
aliens from space have been monitoring
us, know our future, and are trying to
warn us with signals of extraterrestrial origin? (distorted electronic tones) Let's imagine
super-intelligent jellyfish, searching for life
beyond the ocean. So they send out
pheromone signals. We humans, nor any land animals, are able to pick
up these signals or respond to them in any
way that the jellyfish can. Wouldn't that be
similar to our approach with sending out radio
signals into space? Why do we assume
extraterrestrial
life is just like us and can understand our
ways of communication? Perhaps aliens use some other
method for communication. The Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence, or SETI, is a collective term for
the scientific search for intelligent
extraterrestrial life, monitoring electromagnetic
radiation for signs of transmissions from
civilizations on other worlds. SETI's effort is a passive
experiment designed only to look for signals,
not to send them. However, we are unintentionally
transmitting signals into space, primarily radio,
television and radar signals, for more than 50 years. Our earliest TV broadcasts
would have reached several thousand nearby stars
in a 50 light-year radius. Although, any alien viewers would have to build a very
large antenna to detect them. Unless, of course, they
have other technologies. ET may communicate using
a variety of methods, such as light, pressure,
sound and even pheromones, which, of course, could
not travel between stars. However, like us,
they may send probes to explore distant worlds. Just as we have sent
Voyager and Pioneer probes beyond our solar system,
aliens may have probes on their way here, right now. Somewhere between
interstellar spaces, a tiny space probe
from another planet may be whisking its way
through the ether for a final approach to the gravitational
pull of our solar system. It could be transmitting
curious beeps, hoping we will detect it. It's entirely possible they
may attempt to contact us, or any other civilization
via some non-physical method, such as astral travel or
inter-dimensional communication. Multiple signals and
forms of communication could be out there that we
are simply not spiritually advanced enough to acknowledge. Of course, aliens may have
absolutely no interest in us. They could be completely
aware of our existence, yet have no desire
to talk to us. It's also possible they
may go to great lengths to keep us from detecting
any of their transmissions. They could simply be
xenophobic or afraid of us. Modern UFO sightings would
seem to support this idea, since no flying saucer
has made any effort to land in an obvious
place and its occupants request an audience
with Earth leaders. UFOs appear to visit,
do whatever they
need to do then leave without any specific effort to
communicate directly with us. Beyond the few abduction cases, where abductees are given
messages or instruction, the aliens seem to have apathy
towards us all as a species. In some cases having no
more emotion towards us than a scientist would
have for a lab rat. Science, of course,
requires physical proof. Something they can
touch and test. For them, abductions are
just unsubstantiated stories. If we do receive a
signal from space that is confirmed to be
from extraterrestrials, there are a number of
protocols nations would take to issue this information. First it would need
to be confirmed, then the most likely
scenario would be for the United Nations
to issue a media report, and the USA President would
probably issue a statement regarding the signal
and appease the public. After that, our world
would change in dramatic and subtle ways. We would no longer
think of ourselves as nations on an isolated
planet alone in the night. Instead, we would likely
embrace the knowledge that we are not alone and
live in a vast Universe with galactic neighbors. Our religions and
beliefs would need to adjust to this new concept,
which would take time. Just like the paradigm shift
that occurred when the world slowly came to acknowledge our
planet was round and not flat and was not the center
of the Universe, our concepts and
ideas will change to include this new paradigm. All of this could begin
with a simple repeated beep from some source coming from
the vastness of outer space. (dramatic music)
(periodic chimes)
