In some ways, astronomy is similar to the classic board game Clue. Scientists investigate a vast but ultimately contained environment, gathering knowledge and testing theories regarding a large mystery. You can’t cover every nook and cranny, but with the right balance of strategy and fortune, you can gather enough clues to make a decent guess at the tidy answer—who, where, and how—enclosed in a little yellow envelope at the heart of it all. Only astronomers are attempting to determine the origin of odd flashes of radio signals that reach Earth from the depths of space. What exactly are these unusual radio signals? Are they sent by intelligent aliens attempting to communicate with us? Join us as we delve into the unusual radio transmissions recorded from space by NASA!
Astronomers have discovered light signals from the universe’s oldest stars for the first time. The discovery of these signals is truly revolutionary because scientists currently know relatively little about the early history of the universe. In reality, they have not uncovered any early universe signals apart from the big bang’s afterglow. While scientists have worked for years with limited information about the early universe, they do know that after the big bang, the universe was a starless frigid realm made up of radiation-covered hydrogen gas known as the cosmic microwave background. As the early universe’s history has remained a mystery, radiation can still be found in space today.
Following this phase of nothingness was the dark age, a 100-million-year period during which thick gas zones formed clumps that ultimately collapsed into the first stars. The hydrogen atoms started to absorb radiation from the cosmic microwave background at a typical wavelength as these gigantic blue stars lighted up the gas surrounding them. Therefore, scientists think that the cosmic dawn may have left an impression on the cosmic microwave background radiation as a drop in brightness in the spectrum, which should be detectable today.
