China claimed that its massive Sky Eye telescope may have detected signals of extraterrestrial civilizations, according to a report by the state-backed Science and Technology Daily, which promptly removed the piece and related postings.
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The report cites Zhang Tonjie, chief scientist of an extraterrestrial civilization search team co-founded by Beijing Normal University, the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of California, Berkeley, as saying that the narrow-band electromagnetic signals detected by Sky Eye — the world's largest radio telescope — differ from those captured in the past and that the team is investigating them further.
It is unclear why the report was apparently removed from the website of the Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China's science and technology ministry, despite the fact that the news was already trending on social network Weibo and had been picked up by other media outlets, including state-run outlets.
Sky Eye, which is situated in the Guizhou region of southwestern China and has a diameter of 500 meters (1,640 feet), commenced an official search for alien life in September 2020. Zhang, according to the newspaper, said that the team noticed two sets of suspicious signals in 2020 while processing data acquired in 2019, and another suspicious signal in 2022 from observation data of planetary targets.
According to Zhang, China's Sky Eye is particularly sensitive to the low-frequency radio band and plays a crucial role in the hunt for extraterrestrial civilizations.
He stated that the odd signals might possibly be radio interference and need more examination.
This is a developing story and we will keep you updated as soon as new information regarding this story emerges.
Reference(s): Science and Technology Daily, Source