Man in the Moon tunes into Earth's Radio

If you ever thought what happens on Earth stays on Earth, think again.

Astronomers have now reported that we are sending more signals into space than intended, and we might not be the only ones in the Universe listening in.

Using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia - one of three precursor instruments to the ultimate radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) - astronomers have found that the Moon is an effective mirror of the radio pollution that the Earth radiates into space, as it reflects the signals from our TV and radio stations in the FM band (87.5-108 MHz).

In a fleeting glance at the Moon, the MWA telescope picked up every breaking news story, every Top 10 hit, every football score, every press conference, every national anthem, every soap opera, mixed together in a noisy echo of all the Earth's FM radio signals played simultaneously.



Source: astrocentre , caastro.org