Hello everyone,

I checked the forum for an answer to my question and didn't see anything that I at least recognized as an answer. Hopefully you can help.

I understand what a triplet looks like, but what exactly does a triplet signify? Why three spikes specifically, and not two or four or more? In my Navy days, I worked with sonar, so I'm familiar with harmonics. Are triplets related to harmonics?

Thank you for indulging me!

Dave

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_glossary/triplets.php

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Hi, and thanks for the reply! I did see that glossary entry earlier, so I know what a triplet looks like, but I guess what I'm not sure about is why a triplet is significant, why three is the magic number, so to speak.

Why are three spikes significant? At least three needed to show it's not just random?

Why are two spikes not significant? Not enough spikes to show it's not random?

Is more than three spikes more significant?

Sorry for all the questions - I think I'm close to understanding it. : )

Dave

3 equally spaced signals is significant in that naturally occuring objects rarely produce a triplet. If found repeatedly in one specific area of space then we are looking at something significant.

Lets also remember that results have to "fit" what we know about the distance we are looking at as sources. Strong signals are likely earthbound or manmade sources. so we have look at signals that strong enough to be seen over the backgound and also meet other criteria. THe S@H astronomers have setup a stringant vetting process for potential signals.

2 spikes are just that spikes and they too go through a vettnig process for candiates signals

We are looking for Gausian, spikes, pulses, and triplets. we are also checking auto correlation on the v7 apps.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=71960

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Ah, it looks like I was sort of on the right track - two spikes could just be chance, but the odds of three are too high for it to be natural. Makes sense. Thanks for the answer and for your patience!

Dave