Scientists point telescopes at 'strong signal' from distant star

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Astronomers are turning their telescopes to a very strong signal coming from a star about 94 light years away in the constellation Hercules.

Scientists with the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) are following up on a signal recently detected by a Russian telescope at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. The signal was coming from a star named HD 164595. Researchers are trying to identify the signal's origin.

"The signal from HD 164595 is intriguing, because it comes from the vicinity of a sun-like star, and if it's artificial, its strength is great enough that it was clearly made by a civilization with capabilities beyond those of humankind," astronomer Douglas Vakoch, president of Messaging ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence International, told CNN.

Scientists don't know yet what made the signal the Russians detected, but theories about the star system 94 light years away are already being formed.

"This system is known to have one planet, a Neptune-sized world in such a very tight orbit, making it unattractive for life." Seth Shostak, president of SETI said in a statement on the group's site. "However, there could be other planets in this system that are still undiscovered."

The star system is so far away that signals from Earth have not yet reached it, so any intelligent life wouldn't necessarily know we even existed. Interestingly, scientists have worked out the signal's strength and determined that if it was directed narrowly at our solar system, it is of a power far beyond our capabilities.

But Shostak urged caution in interpreting the signal.

"It's hard to understand why anyone would want to target our solar system with a strong signal. This star system is so far away they won't have yet picked up any TV or radar that would tell them that we're here," he said.

"The chance that this is truly a signal from extraterrestrials is not terribly promising, and the discoverers themselves apparently doubt that they've found ET," Shostak said. "Nonetheless, one should check out all reasonable possibilities, given the importance of the subject."