AN UNEXPLAINED radio signal is the best candidate yet for "first
contact" by an intelligent alien civilisation, scientists have
suggested.

The enigmatic signal has been picked up three times since last year by
the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, making it the most
exciting result of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
programme (Seti).

It does not carry the signature of any known astronomical phenomenon,
and does not appear to be the result of natural interference or noise,
according to researchers who have studied its frequency pattern.

This means that it could have been transmitted deliberately by an
extra-terrestrial species on a distant planet, though experts
cautioned that this remains unlikely.

For the past six years, Seti has been hunting aliens using Seti@home,
a project that harnesses the power of millions of personal computers
around the world to sift through radio signals picked up by the
Arecibo telescope. Individual computers load a screensaver, which
allows Seti@home to use their processing power when they are idle.

The new signal, which originates from the region of space between the
constellations Pisces and Aries, is the most tantalising to be
analysed with this powerful new tool, researchers told New Scientist
magazine.

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