https://phl.upr.edu/wow/outreach [ ] Search this site Embedded Files Skip to main content Skip to navigation [HIFb_ux7Cm]PHL @ UPR Arecibo * Home * Mars * Arecibo Wow! + openspace + story + outreach * The Last Arecibo Message * Habitable Worlds Catalog + about + data * Planet-Hab Collaboration + people * About the PHL + students + opportunities [HIFb_ux7Cm]PHL @ UPR Arecibo * Home * Mars * Arecibo Wow! + openspace + story + outreach * The Last Arecibo Message * Habitable Worlds Catalog + about + data * Planet-Hab Collaboration + people * About the PHL + students + opportunities * More + Home + Mars + Arecibo Wow! o openspace o story o outreach + The Last Arecibo Message + Habitable Worlds Catalog o about o data + Planet-Hab Collaboration o people + About the PHL o students o opportunities Wow@Home Introduction A network of small radio telescopes offers several distinct advantages compared to large professional observatories. These systems are low-cost and can operate autonomously around the clock, making them ideal for continuous monitoring of transient events or long-duration signals that professional telescopes cannot commit to observing full-time. Their geographic distribution enables global sky coverage and coordinated observations across different time zones, which is especially valuable for validating repeating or time-variable signals . Coincidence detection across multiple stations helps reject local radio frequency interference (RFI), increasing confidence in true astrophysical or technosignature candidates. These networks are also highly scalable, resilient to single-point failures, and capable of rapid response to external alerts. Furthermore, they are cost-effective, engaging, and accessible, ideal for education, citizen science, and expanding participation in radio astronomy. However, these systems also come with notable limitations when compared to professional telescopes. They have significantly lower sensitivity, limiting their ability to detect faint or distant sources. Their angular resolution is poor due to smaller dish sizes and wide beamwidths, making precise source localization difficult. Calibration can be inconsistent across stations, and frequency stability or dynamic range may not match the performance of professional-grade equipment. Additionally, without standardized equipment and protocols, data quality and interoperability can vary across the network. Despite these constraints, when thoughtfully coordinated, such networks can provide valuable complementary observations to professional facilities. The Wow@Home Radio Telescope This page presents a test of our first Wow@Home Radio Telescope hardware and software configuration (Figure 1). The system is tested for a network of small radio telescopes designed to emulate, as closely as possible, the observation protocol of the meridian radio telescope Big Ear used by the Ohio SETI project in the 1970s. As in the original setup, we use a 10 kHz channel width and a 12-second integration time. However, our system differs in several ways: it features 256 channels instead of 50, a much larger beam size, but significantly lower sensitivity. The telescope is fixed at a constant elevation, pointed south, and scans a specific celestial declination over the course of one or more days using a wide field of view of approximately 25deg (HPBW or its beamwidth). As the Earth rotates, this configuration allows the telescope to capture a continuous 360deg strip of the sky at that declination. After completing three or more full-sky passes, the telescope is adjusted to a new elevation to begin scanning a different declination, gradually building up full-sky coverage over time. While optimized for educational use, this configuration also yields valuable data on RFI near the H I line in urban environments, helping us assess the likelihood of RFI mimicking a Wow!-like signal. Additionally, it serves as a practical platform for a wide-field search for strong transient events, whether of astrophysical origin or potential technosignatures. For events that persist longer than a day, multiple observing passes can be used to validate their presence, detect weaker features, improve overall sensitivity, and help distinguish them from RFI. Additionally, simultaneous observations by two or more telescopes pointed at the same location can further aid in rejecting local interference and confirming the reality of signals that last less than 24 hours. The Wow@Home Radio Telescope operates autonomously, 24/7, as a meridian-style instrument, conducting a continuous all-sky survey for transient events. The hardware required to build these telescopes is both inexpensive and widely accessible, relying on readily available components. The critical element lies in the software, which must be capable of analyzing data effectively, whether from a single station or across a coordinated network of telescopes. Future expansions could include the integration of multibeam systems to enable simultaneous ON-OFF observations to improve sensitivity, tracking capability to perform targeted observations of specific sources, multi-site detection for signal validation, higher sensitivity, and RFI discrimination, interferometric capabilities for improved angular resolution, and phased array configurations to enhance sensitivity and enable electronic beam steering. [zdnpxCl5j3] Figure 1: Components of our first Wow@Home Radio Telescope. The Easy Radio Astronomy (ezRA) software is an excellent starter package for getting this configuration up and running for radio astronomy. We plan to test additional configurations in the coming months, including the Discovery Dish, which integrates the frontend into the antenna, and the Airspy Mini as the backend, offering a 12-bit ADC for improved dynamic range. The Wow@Home Software The Wow@Home Software is the core of our project. It serves as the data acquisition and analysis platform designed to search for transient events caused by astrophysical phenomena, potential technosignatures, and RFI characterization, using data from any small radio telescope. The software is built on the analysis methods we are developing to detect Wow-like signals in the archive data of professional observatories, as part of our Arecibo Wow! Project. We are currently developing the software in IDL, with example outputs shown in Figures 2, 3, and 4. It will later be translated to Python to ensure cross-platform compatibility and broader accessibility. [1KPLZiXkA0] Figure 2: This is a test run of the Wow@Home Radio Telescope. The top panel shows the relative power as a function of time. The next panel is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Most RFI here originates from continuum sources, which are relatively easy to filter out. The following dynamic spectra images show three different ways to analyze the data, depending on the type of signal of interest. The broadband SNR is suitable for detecting continuum sources, but RFI heavily contaminates it. A second telescope at a different location could be used to cross-correlate astronomical signals. The mediumband SNR is good for highlighting the Galactic center transiting after 6 hours and the Galactic anticenter about 12 hours later. The narrowband SNR is more sensitive to signals occurring in only one channel. The horizontal line at channel 224 is an injected test signal spanning the telescope's beamwidth. An actual narrowband RFI event is visible near channel 0 after 15 hours. [h6l6SDLn7M] Figure 3: Neutral Hydrogen (H I) spectral profile of the Galactic center, extracted from the data in Figure 2 at 6.5 hours. Error bars represent the 1s uncertainty in each frequency channel. [0gUGUhOK22] Figure 4: In addition to the modern analysis tools available with today's radio telescopes, we also aim to incorporate into our software the ability to generate a live preview of the data in the style of the original Ohio State SETI project printouts. This feature is intended to provide historical context and connect current efforts to the legacy of early SETI research. Above is an example using the original Wow! Signal data. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) What's the main motivation behind the Wow@Home project? The Wow@Home project is inspired by our ongoing research into the Wow! Signal. We are exploring the possibility that it may have a rare astrophysical origin. While we continue examining archived data from the Arecibo and Big Ear telescopes, Wow@Home allows us to actively search for similar signals and other rare cosmic events, including potential technosignatures, in real time. To do this effectively, we need a network of small radio telescopes operating 24/7. Large professional telescopes are too few and too busy to continuously monitor the sky for transient signals. This project fills that gap. While small telescopes are only sensitive to strong signals, those are exactly the kind of signals that can make us say, "Wow!" Is this an interferometer array? No, the Wow@Home network is not currently an interferometer. While it is technically feasible to turn the array into an interferometer to improve spatial resolution, this isn't necessary for our main goal: detecting transient astrophysical events. These require broad sky coverage over long periods, not pinpoint resolution. Adding interferometry would significantly increase system complexity. It demands precise time synchronization, high-bandwidth data transfer, and powerful processing infrastructure, which would raise both technical barriers and costs. Our priority is scalability and continuous monitoring, which small, independent telescopes can achieve efficiently. How much does a Wow@Home radio telescope cost? A complete setup costs around $500, including a dedicated computer, but we are not selling these systems. Instead, we will provide recommendations for the necessary parts and offer free software to power the telescope and connect it to the Wow@Home network to search for transient events. There are also lower-cost options available, and many online resources can guide you through building your radio telescope. Some great starting points are the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA), the RTL-SDR (Software Defined Radio community), and the Easy Radio Astronomy (ezRA) software, which is excellent for beginners and educational use, especially for studying galactic hydrogen emissions. How do these telescopes operate? These are meridian radio telescopes, designed to survey the sky at a fixed declination and do not move. They don't track specific celestial objects, instead, they rely on Earth's rotation to scan a full 360deg strip of the sky at that declination every day. They operate continuously, day and night, regardless of weather, because they observe near the hydrogen line frequency (in the so-called "water hole"), a part of the radio spectrum that passes through clouds and atmospheric interference. Installation is similar to setting up a satellite TV dish: once pointed correctly, they only require power and internet to run. Each telescope can be monitored via Wi-Fi from any computer. Once a day, the telescope uploads its data to the Wow@Home network, where it joins observations from other telescopes in the system. What's the plan? Right now, we're focused on developing the software and testing various hardware configurations. Our goal is to identify the simplest and most effective setup for fully autonomous operation. We aim to release our first hardware recommendations and the initial version of the software by August 15, 2025, in celebration of the 48th anniversary of the Wow! Signal. To mark this milestone, we're also planning our first local star party, combining both optical and radio telescopes, on August 23, 2025. How can I help? We welcome help, especially from those with experience in RFI shielding, software GUI, and App development. Your expertise could make a big difference as we refine both the hardware and user interface. While we're actively pursuing funding to support the project long term, any assistance now would accelerate our progress and broaden the impact of Wow@Home. Whether it's technical support, outreach, or collaboration, your contribution matters. For more information, contact abel.mendez@upr.edu. (CC) Planetary Habitability Laboratory University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, 2025 Report abuse Page details Page updated Report abuse