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This type of emission may be directed (or at least, emitted by something rotating, so directed at different locations around a circle as it rotates). That would leave it firing at Earth some of the time, and firing other places at other times.

Or, it could be something that flares up every 44 minutes, and is emitted in all directions at once. We really don't know.



If Earth is in the "sweep" of that rotation, the rise and falloff of the (continuous) signal will follow strict gaussian slopes outside the main beam, due to long-range diffraction.

Pulses could follow such a slope, too, but might not, and that would provide differentiation.


Yeah. Unfortunately, the fine article gave no such details that I could see...




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