Are we alone in the universe? Is anybody out there?

I went to see what was happening on Twitter, as I haven't checked it since I joined Steemit a week ago, and the fist thing to appear on my screen was this:

#HD164595 SETI update from @SethShostak: "We're looking  at this object with the Allen (not Alan) Telescope Array."

They’re not saying it’s aliens, but signal traced to sunlike star sparks SETI interest

The case was brought to the public eye by Paul Gilster, writer, editor on astronomy and deep space exploration.

Image: Strong signal from the direction of HD 164595. “Raw” record of the signal together with expected shape of the signal for point-like source in the position of HD 164595. Credit: Bursov et al.

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And I was like 8O

I know that you all have already heard about this. I am sure you have held long and interesting discussions with friends and family, and you have greatly enjoyed having a beer and admiring what an amazing world this would be...

Or perhaps it would be devastating and catastrophic... 

We simply do not have a clue. I think that, unfortunately, the latter is the case.

Egged on by curiosity, I continued to trawl the web for more information. You know, I don't want to be the last person on the face of this Earth to know.

It seems that the signal was detected more than a year ago (15th May 2015), by the RATAN-600 radio telescope in, Zelenchukskaya?! Yep, Rusia.

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Image: The RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Well, let's continue with the story.

Apparently the source of the signal is interesting for two reasons:

It’s a sunlike star, about 95 light-years away from Earth, and it’s already known to have at least one “warm Neptune” planet called HD 164595 b. “There could, of course, be other planets still undetected in this system,”

Awesome! I told you so, didn't I tell you? Mark my words, this will en badly.

There’s been no word of a sequel to HD 164595’s blip in the more than 15 months since it was recorded. Nevertheless, Gilster says it’s due for discussion at next month’s International Astronautical Congress in Mexico.

Fortunately! And I really hope things to remain as they are. Humanity has not been ready for this. We have to understand ourselves in order to understand others. We must learn to RESPECT each other. We have to HELP one another in the fight for increased human rights. Eliminate hunger and poverty. Put an end to years of war.

Clearly, we still have a lot of work to do, and that's why, in my opinion, this is not good.

Hang up Paul!