On Aug. 15, 1977, it "detected a highly unusual signal whose source has never been identified, raising the possibility that the signal may be the first record of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence," per the Ohio History Connection.
"I looked at the computer printout, and I was so excited I wrote the word 'Wow!' without thinking," giving the signal its famous name.
Despite repeated efforts, the signal was never recorded again.
What exactly caused it? Various theories credit aliens, comets or a technical glitch.
The latest idea, from a trio of astronomers in 2024, contends "the Wow! signal was created when a flare from a hypermagnetized, hyperdense star called a magnetar struck a cold interstellar cloud of hydrogen gas," Scientific American reports.
The big picture: OSU professor John Kraus, who designed the Big Ear, was philosophical about the SETI project.
"It gives us a cosmic perspective of ourselves."
Amid a world of "insolvable problems like wars, energy and pollution," Kraus believed finding a distant civilization "would give us hope."
Yes, but: The Big Ear was demolished two decades later to make way for a golf course.
