China’s Sky eye claims possible detection of 'extraterrestrial civilizations'

the largest radio observatory in the world is a 500-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), also known as, the “Eye of Heaven”, after becoming operational in 2020, this telescope has main many contributions to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Fast Radio Burts (FRBs) are believed to be a possible way of extraterrestrial communications, which this telescope can detect.

while sifting through FAST data the team detected a narrow-band electromagnetic radio transmission which is considered one of the best candidates for interstellar communication.

It is also possible that the signals are merely radio interference, according to China's top alien hunter, Zhang Tongjie. Furthermore, it must be determined and ruled out whether the suspicious signal is radio interference. There is a possibility that this process will take a long time, Zhang said.

Some state-run outlets picked up the report following its publication, which quickly circulated on the Chinese social media network Weibo. It is unclear why it was suddenly deleted.

This isn’t the first time, scientists stumbled upon such radio waves from deep space.

In August 1977, a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) search by the Big Ear telescope detected a 1 minute-long, very strong burst of electromagnetic wave, that researchers believed to be an interstellar communication.

Similarly, another famous set of signals once supposed to have come from aliens, detected between 2011 and 2014, turned out to have been made by scientists microwaving their lunches.

In order to rule out radio interference, the team plans to observe the strange signals again to obtain as much information as possible about them, according to Tongjie.