The Allen Telescope Array was used to search for signals with characteristics similar to the “Wow” signal, the best candidate for an extraterrestrial radio signal found during Ohio State University’s (OSU’s) seven-year 21 cm 10-kHz channel sky survey for signals possibly due to extraterrestrial intelligence. While previous follow-up searches have reported null results, our observations covered a 5 deg² field of view that extends well beyond the locus of all consistent directions of arrival (DOAs) of the original signal, and covered a 10 MHz bandwidth four times wider than the widest prior follow-up observations, using 12.8 kHz channels approximating OSU’s 10 kHz resolution. Approximately 100 hours of data were accumulated, considerably more time than any previous follow-up campaigns. We used interferometric imaging with an angular resolution of approximately 007 and automated feature-finding to search for point-like features mimicking a Wow repetition, obtaining single-channel sensitivity of ∼1.2 Jy for one minute averages. This allows identification of the DOA of a very brief repetition, with strong discrimination from radio interference, and eliminates the usual constraint that the signal must persist for long periods of time (around one hour) before the true DOA can be verified (because interfering signals from the horizon sometimes masquerade as coming from the look direction). No point-like features significantly exceeding the noise were found inside the full width at half maximum of the OSU fields of view, although one 26σ point-like feature was detected during one 10 second integration about 1/3 away.

艾伦望远镜阵列用于搜索具有类似于“哇”信号特征的信号，这是俄亥俄州立大学 (OSU) 为期七年的 21 厘米 10 kHz 频道天空调查期间发现的外星无线电信号的最佳候选者，以寻找可能的信号由于外星智慧。虽然之前的后续搜索报告了无效结果，但我们的观察涵盖了 5 度²远超出原始信号所有一致到达方向 (DOA) 轨迹的视场，覆盖的 10 MHz 带宽是最宽的先前后续观察的四倍，使用接近 OSU 10 kHz 分辨率的 12.8 kHz 信道. 累积了大约 100 小时的数据，比之前的任何后续活动都要多得多。我们使用角分辨率约为 007 的干涉测量成像和自动特征查找来搜索模仿 Wow 重复的点状特征，获得一分钟平均值约为 1.2 Jy 的单通道灵敏度。这允许识别非常短的重复的 DOA，与无线电干扰有很强的区别，并消除了在验证真正的 DOA 之前信号必须持续很长时间（大约一小时）的通常限制（因为来自地平线的干扰信号有时会伪装成来自观察方向）。在 OSU 视场的半高全宽范围内没有发现明显超过噪声的点状特征，尽管有一个 26在大约 1/3 距离的 10 秒积分期间检测到σ点状特征。