Question about the "Wow" signal for those more knowledgeable than I: assuming the "Wow!" signal was being broadcast at the same power level that it was when it was detected in 1977, what is the absolute smallest radio telescope size that could have detected it as something separate from the background noise (in other words, definitely "the signal").

__________________
"Too low they build, who build beneath the stars". - Edward Young, 1745

The what?

__________________
Sleep? Isn't that that totally inadaquate substitute for caffeine I've heard so much about?

Quantumfoamy.com, my astronomy/astrophotography blog.

Oh Wow! http://www.planetary.org/html/news/a...s/2001/Wow.htm 8-[

Got over 200,000 hits on Google with "wow signal".
Here's one of them for ya....

http://www.bigear.org/wow.htm

I specifically need to know how to calculate the smallest area that a radio telescope could possibly have had to pick up the "Wow" signal at its maximum strength.

__________________
"Too low they build, who build beneath the stars". - Edward Young, 1745

My wacky theory on the Wow! signal;

far away an alien civilisation is sending out an unknown number of interstellar ships, each of which takes centuries to reach its destination; the ships communicate with their home world (or destination) using tightly focussed transmissions...

In 1977 we intercepted one transmission as the ship came between us and its homeworld or some similar geometric arrangement, but now the vessel has moved on;

it is unlikely to occur again.

__________________
Orion's Arm . The Starlark . Voices: Future Tense- Novella Contest Issue! . OA Flickr set