Good day all. For most of our existence, Humanity has wondered, “Are we alone in the universe?” To try and answer that question, radio telescopes have been listening for radio signals coming from “Out there.”
The primary organization handling the search is called SETI, an acronym for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Back in 1977, the famous “WOW!” signal was received. It’s been considered to be the best candidate for an actual signal from an alien civilization…until now. A year ago last May, they picked up another signal from a star 94 light years from Earth. Here are some of the details from Fox News:
A powerful signal has been spotted coming from the vicinity of a sunlike star, and now astronomers are trying to figure out what it means. In May 2015, researchers using a radio telescope in Russia detected a candidate SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) signal that seems to originate from HD 164595, a star system that lies about 94 light-years from Earth, the website Centauri Dreams reported over the weekend.
Now the study on this signal has not yet been published. The astronomers are going to talk about it at the 67th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico next month. The solar system that they think the signal came from is known to have at least one planet in it.
HD 164595 is known to harbor one planet — a roughly Neptune-mass world that orbits too close to the star to support life as we know it. However, it’s possible that other worlds lurk undiscovered in the system, said astronomer Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who is not part of the detection team.
As I understand it, the current state of the planet searching technology might pick up an Earth sized planet, but they really have to go looking for it. I suspect that’s what will be happening here.
The scientists who made the detection are respected researchers, and the signal is strong enough that it’s probably not just random noise, Shostak told Space.com. Furthermore, the signal is consistent with something an alien civilization might send out — and if aliens did indeed do it, they are certainly far more advanced than we are, he added.
Far more advanced? Hmm, perhaps we should hold off on answering them, just for a while. Why would we want to wait? Well, it will take 94 years for the signal to get there, and then there is the energy problem.
Based on the received signal’s characteristics, aliens would have to generate about 100 billion billion watts of energy to blast it out in all directions. And they’d still have to produce more than 1 trillion watts if they beamed it only to Earth for some reason, Shostak said.
“The first number is hundreds of times more than all the sunlight falling on Earth,” he said. “That’s a very big energy bill.”
So, it would be safe to assume that they aren’t powering their transmitters with windmills. Oh course, there might be a purely natural reason for the signal. The scientists haven’t been able to find an other one from that system as yet. There’s also the possibility that this was something from our solar system.
It’s possible that interference by an Earth-orbiting satellite or something else close to home is responsible, Shostak said. Indeed, he said that such “terrestrial interference” would be his bet, if we ever do learn what caused the signal.
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But, sadly, it’s very possible that we’ll never know. The Russia-based team apparently observed the HD 164595 system 39 different times and only detected the signal once, Shostak said. If nobody sees it again, it will probably remain a mystery, much like the famous “Wow!” signal of 1977.
I really don’t know why scientists are looking for aliens out there. I know that there are aliens on Earth right now. In fact, here’s a picture of one.
If this was a signal from deep space from an alien civilization, then it was probably some sort of experiment they were doing and we just happened to pick up some of the “leftovers.” While they might know that there is a habitable planet here, they won’t know that we are a technological society. Consider that 95 years ago, radio was just starting to be used. In any case, unless they have figured out how to get around the speed of light, they’re probably not going to be coming by for a visit anytime soon.
Thatisall
~The Angry Webmaster~
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