Our colleagues at Cornell University propose a new strategy for the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, ie The Astronomical JournalIn their study published in Scientists, we can intercept aliens based on discontinuous narrowband radio signals coming from the center of our galaxy.
Narrowband radio signals can come from pulsars, but technology used by humans, such as radar, uses them too. These signals are striking and stand out from the background noise, so they are particularly suitable for long-distance communication. For this reason, experts assume that this is the easiest way to eavesdrop on the internal communications of foreign civilizations.
Vishal Gajjar, a co-author of the study, who works at the SETI Institute, pointed this out
Until now, radio searches for aliens have focused primarily on persistent signals. Our study shows that pulse trains are highly energy efficient in interstellar communications. It is important to note that this is the first comprehensive attempt to identify these broadcast sites.
Researchers monitor signals coming from the center of the Milky Way because that region has the highest concentration of stars, and therefore planets. Because of the central location, aliens can target multiple planets at the same time as they move.
Cornell University graduate student Akshay Suresh not only proposed a new strategy but also developed software to recognize the transfers involved. The software has been tested on known pulsar signals – they transmit in a very narrow band, which is one-tenth the wavelength occupied by commercial radio transmitters. Suresh’s program then began working on data from the Green Bank Radio Telescope. The algorithm evaluates 1.5 million data samples in half an hour, but so far it hasn’t found anything.
According to Steve Croft of the Breakthrough Listen space research program at the Green Bank Observatory, the new method is very useful, because searching for extraterrestrials is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.
(Interesting geometryAnd Live Science)
