This story was first published on December 2nd, 2013
Outline
Circulating report claims that NASA detected a distress call from another galaxy back in 1998 but has only recently been able to decipher the message.
Brief Analysis
The claims in the message are fanciful nonsense. The report is not derived from a NASA press release as claimed. NASA has made no announcement about the supposed message. Versions of the fake story have been circulating since at least 2011. And, if a message did come from beyond the Andromeda galaxy, it would take much, much longer than 80,000 years to reach Earth.
Example
NASA Experts Claim to have Intercepted An Intergalactic Distress Call
The signal was detected in January of 1998, however, it took months to decode the message…..
Detailed Analysis
According to a message that is currently circulating via social media and the blogosphere, US space agency NASA has intercepted a distress call from an alien civilization on a planet that was located “beyond the Andromeda galaxy”. The social media message links to a longer report presented as a news article. The report claims that the 80,000 year old signal was first detected back in 1998, but NASA scientists have only recently been able to decipher its meaning.
The report quotes “noted Russian space scientist Dr. Viktor Kulakov” who it claims is leading a United Nations research team that is investigating the message. In the report, Dr Kulakov claims that the alien civilization most likely destroyed itself.
Supposedly, the report is a transcript of an official NASA press release. However, the report is nothing more than fanciful and poorly crafted fiction.
NASA has not issued any press release about such an intergalactic distress call. Nor are there any credible news or media reports about such a message. Of course, if true, such a monumental “first contact” message would be dominating news outlets all over the planet. The world’s news media would be in a collective frenzy, with every possible angle reported on and endlessly discussed and debated.
The absence of any real news about the supposed message is enough alone to dismiss the story as nonsense.
Moreover, while the circulating report claims to be new, versions of the very same story have been circulating since at least 2011. Thus, it seems that the website responsible for publishing the latest version has simply recycled an old lie and presented it as current.
And, “Dr. Viktor Kulakov” is neither a noted Russian space scientist nor is he in charge of any United Nations research group. A “Viktor Kulakov” was a high-ranking military leader in the former Soviet Union, but he was not a space scientist. He died in May 2013.
Finally, the absurd message even gets its figures wrong. Scientists estimate that the Andromeda galaxy is around 2.54 million light-years away. Thus, it would take any message from that region of space vastly longer than 80,000 years to get to us.
Furthermore, while Andromeda is the closest major galaxy to our own, several minor galaxies are considerably nearer. According to NASA, the distinction of nearest galaxy belongs to the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, which is a mere 25,000 light years away.
Thus, while the story may be vaguely entertaining, it carries not a grain of truth.
5 comments
Well, if you’re a paid debunker- you really could have done a better job of “debunking” this. First off nowhere in the claims does it say an official NASA press release was made. Do you think if NASA received a genuine message as this they would publicly disclose it, and open up that can of worms that no government, religion or oil company wants opened? The number of astronauts, scientists, former government officials who will tell you OFF the record that NASA knows and hides the truth that we have already been contacted, is staggering.. you might want to look into their claims before automatically assuming this must be fiction. There’s a reason they don’t go public and I have a feeling you are very familiar with that fact. It’s the height of journalistic folly to say that “the world’s media would be in a collective frenzy”, as NO media will go out on the limb to risk the ridicule UNLESS a government officially acknowledges the truth about the ET presence… which they have not and may not in our lifetime. Thirdly, while Viktor Kulakov isn’t a scientist per say, as a former chief of staff of Soviet Armed forces and a member of Russian Parliament the rest of his tenure- he certainly would have had the credentials to be in the know of something like this. And finally, whether or not the person in the original article incorrectly estimated how long a radio-wave signal from Andromeda would take to reach us, you (like all other closed-minded debunkers) assume that any other civilization must use the same methods of sending out signals that we would. Maybe advanced beings figured out how to make a signal travel faster through ways our primitive mainstream scientists can’t comprehend. Maybe because you and many mainstream scientists assume things must work according to the physics we are taught, we don’t even investigate the possibility since the mind has already been shut.
There are other things worth more of your time to investigate- like why did NASA wait FORTY years to release the simple Voyager photo of the “Mars Stonehenge”- the artificially placed rock formation on the Martian surface. Why do they not only deny UFO’s, but tell astronauts not to say a word about them? I know the answers, but you would come up with something different. These are two of hundreds of examples.
In summary your debunking attempt fails to prove anything one way or the other. Hopefully more groups such as To The Stars will continue releasing official government footage that can’t be denied, proving our governments have indeed been researching UFO’s and receiving communications from them. And one day the advanced technology they keep under lock and key will come out to benefit humanity.
“And finally, whether or not the person in the original article incorrectly estimated how long a radio-wave signal from Andromeda would take to reach us, you (like all other closed-minded debunkers) assume that any other civilization must use the same methods of sending out signals that we would. Maybe advanced beings figured out how to make a signal travel faster through ways our primitive mainstream scientists can’t comprehend.” – Ted
According to the rumour, hoax, story or whatever you want to call it, NASA received a RADIO signal from the planet in distress, so your claim the aliens in question may have “figured out how to make a signal travel faster (than light)” just doesn’t work. In any case, if you believe that signals can travel faster than light speed, then please DO fill us all in on your wonderful new discovery! There’s a Nobel Prize in physics awaiting you. The Andromeda galaxy is, as the article pointed out, too far away for a signal that was sent only 80,000 years ago to have reached us already. Aliens, no matter how advanced they may be technologically, would still not be able to violate the laws of nature. No one can do that.
Just another cover up. It probably happened
I am still confused. If they’re message said they will not communicate through channeling then why all these channeled messages? I don’t know what to believe!
A message could’ve been just received from a galaxy that is 80,000 lys away. Kinda like Andromeda, a galaxy 2.5 million Lys away could’ve seen some distress beacon of a dying world around 2.5 million years ago. Long enough for there extinction or someone to receive to respond to. You see, there’s a flaw in your debunking.