Japan Astronomers Launch Group To Look For Aliens, Radio Observations Eyed

KOBE, May 3 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Astronomers in Japan have recently launched what they say is the country's first organisation dedicated to the search for alien life, with radio observations planned in the summer next year, Kyodo News reported.

"They must exist somewhere in the universe. I'm excited to be putting this into action," said Shinya Narusawa, an astrophysical expert at the University of Hyogo and head of the Japanese Society for SETI -- the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Narusawa, a 61-year-old leading expert in the SETI field, was behind the initiative, bringing together some 10 people such as astronomers and observatory researchers to form the group.

It is planning to conduct observations in August next year in the direction of the Sagittarius constellation at the Misato Observatory in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, to mark 50 years since a strong radio signal believed to have come from space was detected by an Ohio State University telescope in the United States in 1977.

Dubbed the "Wow! Signal", it originated from near the Sagittarius constellation and is known as the strongest candidate for an alien radio transmission ever detected. The signal continues to be studied in the United States as a potential sign of extraterrestrial intelligence, but it remains a mystery.

"We will call on the world to conduct concentrated observations toward the source of the radio wave," the group launched in April said on its website.

In the future, the group aims to build a domestic antenna network to enable constant observation, in the hope that sustained monitoring would improve the reliability of the search.

"We want to eventually build a research network in Japan comparable to that in the United States," Narusawa said. "I hope people learn about our efforts to search for extraterrestrial civilisations, and that it can also prompt us to rethink Earth, where wars between humans continue."

-- BERNAMA-KYODO