HD 164595

To pique SETI's attention in something, a lot must happen. In orbit, they gather hundreds of radio signals, the majority of which are insignificant. However, the emissions they discovered coming from star HD 164595 tell a little different tale. While older than our sun, the star in question is surprisingly comparable to our sun and is located around 91 light-years from Earth. It is also known to be orbited by a planet.

The signal's amplitude is 750,000,000 Hertz, and it was originally discovered on May 15, 2015. According to researchers, if this signal originated from an isotropic beacon, it must have been sent by a Type II civilisation (according to the Kardashev scale), but if it originated from a beam that was directly pointed towards our solar system, it was most likely sent by a Type I civilization.

Our civilisation is regarded to be halfway between Type 0 and Type 1 to put this in context (with Type 1 being a planetary civilization capable of harnessing the power of their world and Type 2 being a civilization capable of harnessing the power of their entire solar system).

Before you get too excited, this signal may not have actually come from aliens despite the fact that scientists are using phrases associated with them. Intriguingly, the RATAN-600 researchers requested that SETI's radio telescopes remain constantly pointed to HD 164595.