Space oddity: The Big Ear radio telescope was part of Ohio University's program to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and was used for this purpose from 1973 to 1995.

Making a hole in one is tough the chances for such a golf shot are about 1 in 12,500. The chances of a radio telescope randomly picking up a signal from another civilisation in space are far more remote than that.

The irony of this is that a radio telescope that picked up our best bet for such a signal has been dismantled and developers turned it into a golf course!

The Big Ear radio telescope was part of Ohio University's program to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and was used for this purpose from 1973 to 1995.

It was big, taking up an area about the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

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The telescope became internationally famous in the late 1970s because of what's now known as the "Wow! Signal" registered by the observatory's recorders.

On August 15, 1977, Jerry Ehman a volunteer at the Big Ear, was routinely glancing over the computer printouts of the telescope's recent observations when he spotted something astounding. It was the recording of a radio signal lasting 72 seconds, so strong it went off of the scale. He circled it in red, writing the word "Wow!" beside it.

Its intensity was unprecedented and it stood out forcefully from the regular "natural" radio emissions received by the telescope.

Unfortunately the density of stars in the area from which the signal came is extremely high not far from the galactic centre, near the "handle" of the Sagittarius teapot asterism, and researchers could not pinpoint its origin to a particular star.

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Astronomy: Big Ear's 'wow' moment a stroke of luck