Scientists working with the remote National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, have detected repeating radio signals being emitted from a dwarf galaxy three billion light-years away.
Astronomers dedicated to finding signs of intelligent alien life recorded 15 repeating fast radio bursts on August 26, according to an August 30 Newsweek article.
The discovery will be described in further detail in a forthcoming scientific article, according to a statement from Breakthrough Listen, the organization that reported the findings.
Scientists say that explanations for bursts could range from outbursts from neutron stars to directed energy sources used by extraterrestrial civilizations to power spacecraft.
Breakthrough Listen was launched in 2015 by cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Internet investor and philanthropist Yuri Milner.
The Green Bank telescopes are legendary in part for their role as an anchor in the National Radio Quiet Zone, an area of approximately 13,000 square miles in which radio transmissions are restricted by law to facilitate scientific research and military intelligence.