6EQUJ5

The Wow! Signal · 15 Aug 1977 · 22:16 EST

  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10   11   12  CH
01  5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    6    6    5
02  4    4    4    4    4    5    5    5    4    5    4    5
03  4    5    5    5    5    5    6    5    5    5    5    5
04  6    5    5    5    6    5    5    6    5    5    5    5
05  6    6    7    7    6    7    7    6    6    6    6    5
06  6    6    7    7    6    6    6    6    6    6    5    5
07  6    6    7    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    5    5
08  6    6    7    7    7    7    7    6    6    6    5    5
09  6    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    6    5
10  66 = signal 6σ above noise  66  EE = signal 14σ above noise  QQ = signal 26σ above noise  UU = signal 30σ above noise — peak  JJ = signal 19σ above noise  55 = signal 5σ above noise  6    6    6    5    5
11  6    6    6    6    7    7    7    6    6    6    6    6
12  6    6    7    7    7    7    7    7    6    6    6    5
13  5    6    7    7    7    6    7    7    7    6    6    6
14  5    6    7    6    6    6    6    6    6    5    5    5
15  5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5    5

Row 10 = the Wow! signal — 72 seconds of observation
Scale: space = 0–1σ  ·  1–9 = 1–9σ  ·  A=10σ, B=11σ … Z=35σ+ U = 30σ

The signal. A narrowband 1420 MHz emission — the hydrogen line, the frequency any radio astronomer would guess an intelligence would use. 30 standard deviations above background noise. 30σ. The probability of a random noise fluctuation producing that is something like 1 in 1015.

The typo. Ohio State's purchasing department ordered the wrong local oscillator — 1450.5056 MHz instead of 1450.4056. The software compensated. Without the mistake, the signal's frequency would have been computed 100 kHz off. The man who found the signal only found it because the university's buyers fucked up.

The man. Jerry Ehman, a volunteer, scanning line-printer paper by hand. He circled 6EQUJ5 and wrote "Wow!" in the margin. In 1994 he said it was probably Earth-based reflection off space debris. By 2019: "I'm convinced it has the potential of being the first signal from extraterrestrial intelligence." A 25-year arc from skeptic to believer, because every other explanation failed the evidence.

The telescope. Big Ear had two feed horns. The signal hit one but not the other. Because of the data recording format, nobody can tell which horn received it. Two possible coordinates. Nobody knows exactly where it came from.

The reply. In 2012, the National Geographic Channel paid Arecibo Observatory to beam 10,000 Twitter messages at three stars — a promo for a UFO TV show. The transmitter overheated during the first burst. It only reached one star. None of the three stars are in the region the Wow! signal came from. A TV network used humanity's most powerful radio telescope to spam hashtags at the wrong patch of sky, and the equipment broke.

The aftermath. Searched 50+ times. Nothing. In 2024, a team publishing from Arecibo data suggested a rare astrophysical event — a cold hydrogen cloud surging in brightness when hit by a stellar flare. The paper came out after the telescope collapsed. The instrument that could have confirmed it is rubble.

The band. Muse named their June 2026 album after it.