• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence): Compendium / Miscellaneous

The 8-dimensional space that must be searched for alien life

from the MIT technology review. It's less about searching some 8D spacetime than us having searched a minuscule section of the range.

https://www.technologyreview.com/20...l-space-that-must-be-searched-for-alien-life/

"This parameter space is vast. The relevant dimensions include the three dimensions of space, the frequency range of potential signals, their repetition rate, polarization, and modulation, the transmission bandwidth, and the sensitivity of searches to this transmitted power. "
 
They document at least 100 stars that have vanished from the sky after having been observed (and some of these disappearances might provide evidence for the activity of exocivilizations)—(PDF, #reminder): https://t.co/kZNsy4BlJx
 
Across 10 Million Stars, Not a Single Whisper of Alien Technology

Source: sciencealert.com
Date: 8 September, 2020

In a comprehensive search of a patch of the Southern sky, not even a hint of alien technology has been detected at low radio frequencies.

Across at least 10 million stars that populate the Vela region - the deepest and widest survey for extraterrestrial intelligence yet - the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia found none of the technosignatures that might be expected within its range.

However, astronomers Chenoa Tremblay and Steven Tingay from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) say their results aren't disappointing at all.

Instead, the research shows how easy it is to conduct the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) almost incidentally, while obtaining other astrophysical observations.

SETI is really quite tricky. We don't really know what kind of technology an alien civilisation could develop, so we base it on what we know - our own technology, and theories. In the case of the MWA, that means radio signals in frequencies similar to FM radio.

Here on Earth, very low frequency radio can "leak" out through the ionosphere - it's been picked up by our own space probes, as heard in the above audio, recorded by a NASA Polar spacecraft in 1996. More recently, these VLF emissions have been found to be creating a giant bubble around our planet.

If aliens are also producing such signals, and if those signals are powerful enough, researchers believe that we might be able to detect them. However, if we could, it's not with the MWA, and not in the vicinity of the Vela constellation.

"The MWA is a unique telescope, with an extraordinarily wide field-of-view that allows us to observe millions of stars simultaneously," Tremblay said.

"We observed the sky around the constellation of Vela for 17 hours, looking more than 100 times broader and deeper than ever before. With this dataset, we found no technosignatures - no sign of intelligent life."

[...]

https://www.sciencealert.com/across...whisper-of-alien-technology-has-been-detected
 
Sadly the Arecibo telescope suffered extensive damage recently, when a cable fell on the dish.
 
After even more damage to the Arecibo dish, it will now be demolished. Sad.
 
If they take it down in a controlled way, then no further damage will be done, they can put it up again.

If they can be bothered...
 
Since they are so flush with money you mean?
 
If they take it down in a controlled way, then no further damage will be done, they can put it up again. ...

That's the problem ... After the latest cable failures, testing indicates the entire structure is in danger of collapse. There are now concerns that the entire site is so fragile / unsafe that any controlled dismantlement is a dangerous proposition.
 
One of the data points that may impact on the Drake equation is that many more stars are observed to be mildly variable; this makes them less likely to host Earth-like biospheres.
 
One of the data points that may impact on the Drake equation is that many more stars are observed to be mildly variable; this makes them less likely to host Earth-like biospheres.
Another data point on the Drake equation is the number of stars with planets, a lot more common than originally thought.
 
After reading the Three Body Problem, I feel it's quite plausible that any sensible aliens shut up and keep quiet in case some other, bigger race comes and wipes them out...
 
Scientists studying "tantalising signal" from direction of Proxima Centauri:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...liens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star

Interesting. It was commented upon on another weblog:

Clive Robinson • December 20, 2020 6:58 AM

Oh WOW again? Maybe…

Is it from a bird, a plane or a satellite? Apparently not and it’s way to soon to talk about LGM (little green men of the pulsating sort).

But somebody has beamed down to the paddock in Australia, not as close to the “water hole” as expected so worrying not the sheep as such but some of the scientists at the Parks Radio Telescope.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...liens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star

Apparently we are getting 980Mhz transmissions beaming in from the environs of Proxima Centauri, with frequency changes indicative of planetary motion.

At around 4.2 light years away, Proxima Centauri is in astronomical terms “just next door”. Nobody knows what the signal is yet but I’m guessing it’s not a request to borrow a cup of sugar.

I guess we will just have to wait and see, shame we’ve just lost the only dish we had capable of sending a signal back and if we do send back anything in the near future like as not it will have a sticker saying “Made in China” on it.

Maybe Arecibo might get a cash injection, stranger things have happened… But apparently not yet signs of intelligent life in the corridors of power.
 
Interesting. It was commented upon on another weblog:

Clive Robinson • December 20, 2020 6:58 AM

Oh WOW again? Maybe…

Is it from a bird, a plane or a satellite? Apparently not and it’s way to soon to talk about LGM (little green men of the pulsating sort).

But somebody has beamed down to the paddock in Australia, not as close to the “water hole” as expected so worrying not the sheep as such but some of the scientists at the Parks Radio Telescope.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...liens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star

Apparently we are getting 980Mhz transmissions beaming in from the environs of Proxima Centauri, with frequency changes indicative of planetary motion.

At around 4.2 light years away, Proxima Centauri is in astronomical terms “just next door”. Nobody knows what the signal is yet but I’m guessing it’s not a request to borrow a cup of sugar.

I guess we will just have to wait and see, shame we’ve just lost the only dish we had capable of sending a signal back and if we do send back anything in the near future like as not it will have a sticker saying “Made in China” on it.

Maybe Arecibo might get a cash injection, stranger things have happened… But apparently not yet signs of intelligent life in the corridors of power.

Yes. I'm looking forward to more information about this "tantalising signal".

Given previous false alarms though, it'll probably turn out to be one of the boffins using a faulty microwave somewhere in the lab.
 
At around 4.2 light years away, Proxima Centauri is in astronomical terms “just next door”. Nobody knows what the signal is yet but I’m guessing it’s not a request to borrow a cup of sugar.
"Fleet arriving soon - kiss your asses goodbye" or words to that effect.
 
"Fleet arriving soon - kiss your asses goodbye" or words to that effect.
1608573262665.jpeg
 
But if the aliens were already here, why would they send a signal to us across light years of space so far, far away?
 
But if the aliens were already here, why would they send a signal to us across light years of space so far, far away?
I don't know if it is aliens sending that signal :pipe: --it's probably something natural, as it usually is, unless there is also some other civilization nearby in addition to our current situation with UFOs and wherever they are from. I have no idea where UFOs are coming from --it could be that they are just coming from somewhere else in space, but I think in addition they might be coming from some kind of contiguous universe or exist hyperdimensionally. They are physical objects but they are damn near supernatural too. Strange to be in the position of the primitive organism for Homo Perniciosius, stripped of our human exceptionalism and little ape realities.
 
But if the aliens were already here, why would they send a signal to us across light years of space so far, far away?
New orders.
 
But if the aliens were already here, why would they send a signal to us across light years of space so far, far away?

lt’s the Proxima Centaurian equivalent of Operation Bodyguard: Get Earth looking in the wrong direction, then - pow! - the probes’ll be up us before Corporal Jones can sharpen his assegai.

article-1306078-001097AB00000258-734_233x423.jpg


maximus otter
 
https://futurism.com/seti-institute...C7wIQ0nWmjGXrPytwxcQL70X8oQiOJOdb4Qw_9XEx2cmc
“Because of its profile, it’s very unlikely that the signal was produced by a natural but unknown cosmic source, but who knows… Nature often surprises us,” reads the statement, penned by SETI Institute senior planetary astronomer Franck Marchis.

“One simple explanation is that Parkes picked up a signal that originated on Earth,” Marchis writes. “We use radio to communicate, and this could be terrestrial interference. And that’s probably the most likely explanation.”

A false signal would be a so-called Peryton, named after the mythical beast; a chimera, caused by the microwave in the laboratory kitchen or something. Parkes Observatory has had them before.
402c78c290eaddfc56906da865662ff3.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peryton_(astronomy)
 
Back
Top