Extraterrestrial
SETI focuses efforts on known exoplanets
By
T.K. RandallFebruary 11, 2013 ·
94 comments
Image Credit: NRAO/AUI
An effort to listen out for intelligent aliens in the direction of stars with planets has drawn a blank.
As the number of known planets around distant stars increases, astronomers at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence have been keen to use this information in their efforts to locate alien life. Between February and April 2011, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia was pointed towards 86 stars known to harbor potentially habitable planets in the first directed search of its kind.
Unfortunately, despite picking up some interesting signals, analysis eventually indicated that none of them were evidence of an alien civilization and it was concluded that the search had come up empty.
More advanced civilisations might have more power to play with and so be easier to see. In particular, civilisations that have harnessed all the energy from their star–so-called Kardashian Type II civilisations - ought to be easy to spot.
Source:
Technology Review |
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