SETI radio signal almost certainly didn’t come from aliens

Verge : Last year, a team of Russian astronomers, using the RATAN-600 radio telescope, detected a mysterious signal that came from the general direction of HD 164595, a Sun-like star located 95 light-years away. Because the star has at least one planet, the astronomers say it’s possible the signal indicates the presence of an alien civilization. The team only recently shared the discovery with the rest of the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) community, and no other researchers have yet confirmed the signal. Verifying the discovery will be difficult for several reasons. RATAN-600 was using a wide-bandwidth receiver, so it will be hard to determine the precise source of the signal. Moreover, the signal hasn’t repeated, and even if it did, it would be difficult to know where to point other radio telescopes to try to detect it. Since the telescope data suggest that the signal would have required more power than has been consumed by all of humanity, a more likely explanation is that it was caused by a natural phenomenon such as a quasar.