Welcome to "Today in Space," where we peer back in our archives to find historic moments in spaceflight and astronomy. So enjoy a blast from the past with Space.com's Hanneke Weitering to look back at what happened on this day in space!
On Aug. 15, 1977, astronomers using Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope detected the famous "Wow!" signal, which to this day is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that we are not alone in the universe.
Astronomer Jerry Ehman was using the telescope to scan a region in the constellation Sagittarius when it detected a weird, 72-second-long radio burst. The signal was too strong to be explained by background noise, and researchers determined that it was very unlikely that this signal came from anything on Earth.
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Despite their best efforts, astronomers have not been able to detect any other signals like it.And it all happened today in space!
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Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+.
