China says it has detected the presence of aliens using its massive Sky Eye telescope.
During the examination of data collected in 2019, the team apparently discovered two sets of worrisome signals in 2020. According to a report in the Chinese state-backed Science and Technology Daily, they also discovered another suspicious signal in 2022 from observation data of exoplanet targets.
The report appears to have been removed, but not before the news began trending on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, and was picked up by other media outlets, including state-run outlets.
It’s unknown why the item was taken down from the Scientific and Technology Daily’s website, China’s official science and technology daily.
Chinese official media declared in September 2020 that it would begin looking for ‘extraterrestrial civilisations.’
In 2020, the FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope) became operational and began combing across the cosmos for indications of intelligent alien life.
According to the report, the Sky Eye team is looking into narrow-band electromagnetic signals that are different from previous ones captured, citing Zhang Tonjie, chief scientist of an extraterrestrial civilisation search team co-founded by Beijing Normal University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Astronomical Observatory, and the University of California, Berkeley.
According to Zhang, China’s Sky Eye is the world’s largest radio telescope and is particularly sensitive in the low-frequency radio band, making it crucial in the search for alien civilizations.
The experts also warned that the odd signals could be radio interference, which would necessitate additional examination.