SETI Live: Strange Radio Waves From the Galactic Center

A team of radio astronomers detected unusual signals from deep in the heart of the Milky Way using CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope. The radio waves fit no currently understood pattern of variable radio source and could suggest a new class of stellar object. What could this be? Pulsar, huge solar flare, or something else? We invited the lead author of the paper, published in October in Astrophysical Journal, Ziteng Wang and his Ph.D supervisor Professor Tara Murphy, both from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, to discuss with SETI Institute Senior astronomer Franck Marchis their discovery and its extraordinary behavior. Press release: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/10/12/strange-radiowaves-galactic-centre-askap-j173608-2-321635.html ASKAP radio telescope: https://www.csiro.au/en/about/facilities-collections/atnf/askap-radio-telescope If you like science, support the SETI Institute! We're a non-profit research institution whose focus is understanding the nature and origins of life in the universe. Donate here: https://seti.org/donate Learn more about the SETI Institute and stay up-to-date on awesome science: - Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/SETIInstitute/ - Watch our streams over on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/setiinstitute - Listen to our podcast, Big Picture Science http://www.bigpicturescience.org/ - Subscribe to our newsletter https://seti.org/signup - Buy merchandise from Chop Shop https://www.chopshopstore.com/collections/seti-institute/SETI Don't forget to like and subscribe! Ring the bell for notifications of when we go live. #SETILive #Science #ASKAP

Added 5 Jun 2026