Extraterrestrial

ET search could focus on alien transmitters

By T.K. Randall
October 19, 2013

Image: OVRO 40 Meter Radio Telescope
Credit: Salvor Hardin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The idea stems from the concept that if an intelligent extraterrestrial race were using a probe to study our planet then in order to transmit the data back to their own solar system they would need a means with which to send a signal over long interstellar distances.

In a recent paper, Michael Gillon of the Observatory of Geneva outlined his thoughts on how this could be achieved and how it could represent a new opportunity for us to seek out evidence of ET.His proposition is based on the concept that an alien transmitter could use the sun's gravitational field as an amplifier to boost the signal, a technique that could also be used in the future to help us communicate with our own interstellar space probes.

Gillon maintains that astronomers could monitor the solar focal regions of neighboring stars within our solar system to look for signs of transmitters as this would be the most likely place to find them. Anomalous radiation readings at one of these locations could be an indicator that there was something there and then a probe could be sent to take a closer look.

Source: Discovery News

Tags: SETI