# Dixon 2017: Rebuttal of the Comet Hypothesis for the Wow! Signal

> Robert S. Dixon, 2017. 4 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The rejection of the comet hypothesis by the people who operated the telescope.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CXZ4F1E4F0K/rebuttal-of-the-comet-hypothesis-for-the-wow-signal  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Wow! signal](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/wow-signal)Dixon 2017

**0**

# Rebuttal of the Comet Hypothesis for the Wow! Signal

Robert S. Dixon, 2017. _North American AstroPhysical Observatory (naapo.org)_.

The Ohio SETI director's rebuttal, dated 6 June 2017: the comets were about an hour of right ascension and three degrees of declination off the position against a beam three minutes wide; no mechanism for strong 21-cm emission from comets is known; the signal would need to be steady at 30 sigma for two minutes and absent three minutes before and after. Ehman's 2016 letter raising similar objections is summarised with it on the Arecibo Wow! project's site.

**Wow! signal** Web pageChecked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The rejection of the comet hypothesis by the people who operated the telescope.

## Cited by on this site 4 records

[In 1977 the comets were about an hour of right ascension and three degrees of declination from the position,…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/wow-signal/evidence/EVD0CXZ4RSY0CPP/in-1977-the-comets-were-about-an-hour-of-right-ascension-and)

Evidence

EVD

[No mechanism for strong cometary 21-cm emission is known; a cometary hydrogen cloud would be degrees across,…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/wow-signal/evidence/EVD0CXZ4S1R0ZDZ/no-mechanism-for-strong-cometary-21-cm-emission-is-known-a)

Evidence

EVD

[Dixon publishes the Big Ear staff's rebuttal of the comet hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/wow-signal/events/EVT0CXZ4N4R7EWX/dixon-publishes-the-big-ear-staffs-rebuttal-of-the-comet)

EVT

[The Wow! signal](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/wow-signal)

The mystery article

MYS

## Cite it

```
Dixon, R. S. (2017). Rebuttal of the Comet Hypothesis for the Wow! Signal. North American AstroPhysical Observatory (naapo.org). http://www.naapo.org/WOWCometRebuttal.html
```

[Read it free at naapo.org](http://www.naapo.org/WOWCometRebuttal.html)

Key

**SRC** 0CXZ4F1E4F0K

Kind

Web page

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

27 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published original

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CXZ4F1E4F0K/rebuttal-of-the-comet-hypothesis-for-the-wow-signal/csl.json)