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Six tricks that alien trackers could use
So far, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has focused on listening for radio signals deliberately sent our way. But even if alien civilisations are not trying to get our attention, their activities could produce detectable signs. Here are a few things we might detect, most of which are discussed in a recent paper by Richard Carrigan of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.
1.)Earth's cities are visible at night from space because of their artificial lights, so populated exoplanets might give off light pollution of their own. But finding it might not be easy. Even if all the world's electricity were used to produce light, it would still be thousands of times fainter than a glint of sunlight reflected off the Earth's surface.
2.)We could also hunt for evidence of chemical pollutants in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Artificial compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, could leave traces that might be observed from afar. Because they strongly absorb infrared light at characteristic wavelengths, CFCs may be detectable even when present at concentrations as low as parts per trillion. But it could take an exceptionally sensitive telescope, far beyond the capabilities of present-day instruments, to pick up such traces.
3.)Dumping nuclear waste in a star could leave it with suspiciously large abundances of rare elements produced by nuclear fission, such as technetium or neodymium, which we might detect in its starlight. But creating a recognisable signature may require a colossal amount of material – for example, 100,000 tonnes of technetium, according to an estimate by Guillermo Lemarchand of the National University of Quilmes in Argentina. By contrast, Earth's nuclear reactors have produced only 100 tonnes or so of technetium in the past century, says Richard Carrigan.
4.)An extraterrestrial civilisation might also reveal itself through colossal feats of engineering called Dyson spheres, hypothetical structures that would cocoon stars to collect solar energy. A Dyson sphere would partially or fully block a star’s visible light. But because the sphere would still be warmed by its star, it would radiate infrared light that might be detectable from Earth.
Astronomers have found no Dyson spheres for certain – the few candidates they have flagged up could be explained just as easily as clouds of hydrogen gas, dust engulfing ancient stars or even asteroids.
5.)Rather than blocking the light of just one star, a sprawling extraterrestrial civilisation might build Dyson spheres around many stars, creating a noticeable dark patch in its home galaxy called a Fermi bubble. Like individual Dyson spheres, Fermi bubbles would still radiate heat, making them visible in infrared light.
But finding them could still be tricky. Spiral galaxies, like the Pinwheel galaxy (shown here), are full of dust and dark gaps. Galaxies that are naturally more uniform in brightness, like elliptical galaxies, might be better candidates in the hunt for ET.
6.)An advanced civilisation might modify its parent star to keep its home planet habitable. As stars age and use up the hydrogen in their cores, they swell to become red giants that can engulf surrounding planets and endanger life.
A civilisation could head off disaster by finding a way to extend the life of a star. Doing so would require an extraordinary effort to change conditions within the star by, for example, mixing unused hydrogen from the outer part of the star in with the core, removing some of the star's matter, or adjusting the star's rotation rate to change the pressure inside. Such tampering would give stars unusual properties, providing evidence of powerful alien civilisations.
Most of these ideas seem fairly outlandish to me, and somewhat unrealistic, but I suppose that it will take some out of the box thinking to make real progress in the search for ETs.
Originally posted by Sinter Klaas
Ok Nice !
I'm gonna give you my thoughts on them.
1. This would be impossible right now. We find most exoplanets, observing stars to find the ones that wobble.
2.Isn't this radiation faded out by every other radiation source ?
3. Advanced probably means intelligent. They would probably not even thinking about meddling with a star.
4. We can assume the same intelligence is not gonna black out their solar system.
5. See question 4.
6. Common ! They would just move to another planet.
Most of these ideas seem fairly outlandish to me, and somewhat unrealistic, but I suppose that it will take some out of the box thinking to make real progress in the search for ETs.
Out of the box thinking ?
I think they are limited by their own imagination.
Unrealistic is at the least ! IMHO