'Unexplained' Wow! 'alien' signal 'may have been interference'

A top radio astronomer has said that the unexplained Wow! signal from decades ago may have been interference or just some curious fault with some equipment.

Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell told News24 that she came to the conclusion as the signal didn't repeat and nothing else like has been seen.

She added that there's an awful lot of interference around - a hell of a lot of interference.

SKA SA project director Dr Bernie Fanaroff said that in the design of each of the components, they made sure that they didn't interfere with the telescope, adding that anything that interferes they put in an enclosure so the interference can't leak out.

According to Burnell, the astronomers have covered the frequency most likely to be used for an extraterrestrial communication, saying that if there was to be a communication it would be at what they call the Hydrogen Line - 21cm wavelength, which has been well-covered for years.