Astronomers pick up a mysterious radio signal that prompts them to search for aliens

  Astronomers are investigating alien life after the emission of interesting radio waves that appear to have come from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.

The narrow beam of radio waves was captured by the Parks Telescope in Australia in April and May of last year, the Guardian says.

It is not uncommon for astronomers on the $ 100 million (£ 70 million) Breakthrough Listen to project to detect strange explosions of radio waves using the Parks Telescope or the Greenbank Observatory in West Virginia, but all so far have been attributed to man-made interference.

But what makes it different this time is the direction of the narrow beam, around 980MHz, and the apparent shift in its frequency makes this mysterious phenomenon more interesting rather than its human source.

The team says this is one of the most exciting radio signals since 1977, which has led many to speculate that it originated from a distant alien civilization.

This indicates that it could be evidence of a third planet within the system, rather than signs of an alien civilization, which the researchers say is "very unlikely".

Pete Worden, director of the research team, said the signals were likely interference from ground-based sources that we cannot explain yet.

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