CHINA-SCIENCE-SPACE
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is seen on its first day of operation in Pingtang, in southwestern China's Guizhou province on September 25, 2016. The world's largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China on September 25, a project which Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life. Photo credit should read STR/AFP via Getty Images

Are traces of extraterrestrial civilizations from outside Earth detectable? Scientists have yet to confirm and rule out whether it is an alien signal or only human radio interference.

Beijing Normal University astronomers say they have discovered several cases of this "possible technological traces" from a distant alien civilization, and China's "Sky Eye" has made important progress, according to a report published in Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China's Ministry of Science and Technology.

Professor Zhang Tongjie, chief scientist of the China Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of the Department of Astronomy and Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Group of Beijing Normal University, revealed that his team found "suspicious signals" from outside the Earth, LiveScience reported. The signals were picked up by China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) or "Sky Eye", the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope at present.

China' "Sky Eye" has high hopes in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations - one of its five major scientific goals.

Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations

Chinese scientists bet on the giant silver Chinese dish in detecting aliens. China's FAST located in Pingtang, in southwestern China's Guizhou province, was dedicated to indicate and screen out extraterrestrial life from the vast sea of electromagnetic signals, "while celestial objects and artificial signals are excluded," the report said.

In 2020, researchers claim to have spotted two suspicious narrow-band signals, but potentially artificial. Recently, in the year 2022, another strange narrow-band radio signal was detected, bringing the tally up to three.

Generally, narrow-band radio waves are only used by human aircraft and satellites, which brings conclusion to the team that the signal could have been produced by alien technology. However, scientists say the findings are preliminary and "the team is currently working on further investigation," said Tongjie.

Although there is a possibility, it could also be that the suspicious signal was some kind of radio interference. "This may be a long process," he added.

Signal's Source Remains a Mystery

Incredibly strong, minute-long, electromagnetic radio waves from deep space have also been detected in the past, performed by the Ohio State University's Big Ear telescope. However, later research has suggested that it could have come from a sun-like star located in the constellation Sagittarius, according to LiveScience.

Chinese astronomers have yet to rule out the radio interference, as alien-hunting scientists in the past have all returned empty-handed in their searches.

However, another study suggests the signal was most likely produced by malfunctioning human technology, like 2011 and 2014's supposedly-alien-signals which turned out to be scientists microwaving their lunches.

"We look forward to the [FAST telescope] being the first to discover and confirm the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations," Tongjie told the newspaper, adding that his team plans to take repeat observations of the mysterious signals to "conclusively rule out any radio interference" and have as much information about them as they needed.

After more than 60 years of unremitting exploration by scientists, the team is looking forward to soon discovering and confirming extraterrestrial intelligent life.

"We look forward to 'China Sky Eye' being the first to discover and confirm the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations."