The most famous 'alien' signal is named after a margin note.

1977

In 1977 astronomer Jerry Ehman circled the sequence '6EQUJ5' on a printout and wrote 'Wow!' beside it. Where those 72 seconds came from is still unknown.

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The event

• The Wow! signal1977 · Big Ear radio telescope, Ohio. On 15 August 1977 the Big Ear radio telescope picked up a strong narrowband signal from Sagittarius lasting 72 seconds. Astronomer Jerry Ehman circled the readout and wrote 'Wow!' in the margin. Decades of searching have never found it again.

20th century

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