The Wow! Signal
Astronomers at Ohio State University using the Big Ear radio telescope on August 15, 1977, detected a peculiar signal coming from the Sagittarius constellation. Astronomer Jerry Ehrman wrote "Wow!" on the printout of the signal because it was so odd, sparking speculation that it might have been an extraterrestrial transmission.
Scientists had just captured what they thought might have been the first contact with extraterrestrial life.
You'd think it would be a pretty huge event, but unfortunately for them, they revealed their findings the day after Elvis Presley passed away, only a few hours later. As it turned out, news of the Wow! Signal was consigned to the newspaper's back pages because people were more interested in the monarch than they were in aliens.
The Wow! Signal has garnered renewed interest in the decades since it was first discovered, despite being mostly overlooked at the time. This is largely due to the fact that it has never been seen again and, despite numerous theories, is still not fully understood. Some have jokingly suggested that the signal came from the mothership as it was coming to pick up Elvis to take him home, and we must admit that that theory makes perfect sense to us.\
- Date:August 15, 1977
