Tag: technosignature

Astronomers’ New Way of Searching for Alien Worlds in the Stars

Article by Cody Fenwick                                       March 5, 2021                                     (salon.com)

• A group of astronomers at UCLA have published findings on a new method of searching for signs of technological civilizations in the stars using radio signals. Radio signals are easy to create. The universe is naturally filled with radio signals. They can encode detailed information within its signal, and they can travel long distances between solar systems. So the key is to detect those signals that appear to be artificial. But almost all of the artificial radio signals that we detect in space actually came from the Earth.

• In order to clear away the clutter and pinpoint radio signals coming from a star out in the galaxy, the UCLA researchers developed an algorithm to weed out extraneous signals in the data coming from the Earth. The researchers applied a concept known as ‘topographical prominence’ that is used when mapping a particular mountain relative to the terrain around it. The algorithm is able to find a particular narrow radio signal among other signals.

• Utilizing the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and applying the algorithm, the researchers were able to identify 26 million signals – about 200 times as many candidate radio signals than would be found using standard search methods. The algorithm then screened out more than 99% of those signals as human-made. After that, 4,539 unique radio signals were left over. Going through them one-by-one, the researchers were able to conclude these, too, were from human sources and not evidence of alien technology. A disappointment, to be sure — but the real point was to hone the technique.

• They further honed their technology by injecting fake signals into their raw data. The computer algorithm was able to correctly identify 99.73% of the detected signals as ‘technosignature’ candidates, and illuminate imperfections in the technology that could ultimately be used to calibrate the signals for prevalence of other civilizations.

• Through this process, the UCLA researchers were able to narrow rogue radio signals down to 31 Sun-like stars whose properties are similar to the only star currently known to harbor a planet with life – the Earth’s Sun.

 

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars last month in a mission to, in part, search for signs of ancient microbial life on our

    Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia

neighboring planet. If any evidence of such extraterrestrial organisms — likely long dead — is found, it will be a massive development in astrobiology and humanity’s understanding of its place in the universe. But when people are honest, they tend to admit that fossilized remains of ancient microorganisms aren’t what gets them excited in the search for alien life. What really fires the imagination is the search for intelligent alien life and extraterrestrial civilizations.

A recent paper, though, flagged by astronomer and writer Phil Plait at SyFy, offers surprisingly promising developments in that branch of space exploration. Working at UCLA, a group of astronomers published findings on a new method of searching for signs of technological civilizations in the stars.

“We selected 31 Sun-like stars,” they explain, “because their properties are similar to the only star currently known to harbor a planet with life.”

And to be upfront about it, they unequivocally found no sign of civilization. But Plait argued that they showcased a promising method for pursuing the search.

Basically, the technique entailed using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to scan for radio signals. Many scientists hopeful about searching for intelligent alien life think that the most likely way we’ll uncover it is by receiving radio transmissions from non-human sources. Radio signals are easy to create, they can travel the long distances between solar systems, and they can encode detailed information. And if there are any civilizations out there listening, they may have already picked up many of our own transmissions.

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Atmospheric Pollution Could Signal Advanced Extraterrestrial Civilization

Article by Amit Malewar                                     February 11, 2021                                        (techexplorist.com)

• Astronomers have detected over 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Some of these exoplanets have conditions suitable for life. Since exoplanets are so distant, scientists cannot look for signs of life or civilization by sending spacecraft to these distant worlds. The presence of a combination of gases like oxygen and methane in a planet’s atmosphere could be a sign of life or ‘biosignature’. Likewise, a sign of technology (ie: pollution) on an exoplanet, called a ‘technosignature’, could be the byproduct of an industrial process.

• A new NASA research study examines nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as a possible technosignature. “On Earth, about 76 percent of NO2 emissions are due to industrial activity,” says Giada Arney, co-author of the paper at NASA Goddard. “Since NO2 is also produced naturally, scientists will have to carefully analyze an exoplanet to see if there is an excess that could be attributed to a technological society.”

• In this study, scientists used computer modeling to predict whether NO2 pollution would produce a detectable signal. Atmospheric NO2 strongly absorbs certain colors (wavelengths) of visible light, which can be seen by observing the light reflected from an exoplanet as it orbits its star. They found that a civilization on an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, producing the same amount of NO2 as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away using a future large NASA telescope. One light-year is the distance light travels in a year, almost 6 trillion miles. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across.

• The study group also found that cooler and far more common stars than our Sun, such as K and M-type stars, will deliver a stronger, more easily detected NO2 signal. “If we observe NO2 on another planet, we will have to run models to estimate the maximum possible NO2 emissions one could have just from non-industrial sources” to calculate the industrial-sourced NO2, said Arney.

• Jacob Haqq-Misra, a co-author of the paper at the Blue Marble Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, noted that, “Other studies have examined chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as possible technosignatures. CFCs were manufactured chemicals used as refrigerants until they were phased out because of their role in ozone depletion. CFCs are also a powerful greenhouse gas that could terraform a planet like Mars by providing additional warming from the atmosphere.” They would be an obvious technosignature since CFCs aren’t produced naturally, as far as we know. It is likely that NO2 would be more prevalent, by comparison, as a general byproduct of any combustion process.”

• This work was funded by NASA Goddard’s Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration and the NASA Exobiology program. supported by NASA’s Planetary Science Division’s Research Program. This work was performed as part of NASA’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory through the NASA Astrobiology Institute and by the NASA Astrobiology Program as part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) research coordination network.

• [Editor’s Note]    This article proves that NASA is just as complicit as the more obvious deep state organizations, such as SETI, in spending a ton of money and publicity to “search” for extraterrestrial life when it is right under (above) our noses. They trot out highly credentialed establishment scientists to spout a bunch of technical jargon about how they are looking for this ‘techosignature’ or that ‘biosignature’ looking for evidence of a habitable or technologically advanced civilization. Think of all of the time and effort – and deception – that our society will save and redirect once we have full disclosure of the long-standing presence of advanced extraterrestrial beings that have been interacting with our secret space programs for many decades. We already have the answers to all of the questions that deep state scientists continue to dwell on, solely for the theatrics of making average people think that smart people are doing everything they can to detect life beyond this Earth, thereby promoting the outrageous lie that humanity here on Earth is the only intelligent life that we have found in the universe.

 

      Jacob Haqq-Misra

Nitrogen dioxide is part of a group of gaseous air pollutants produced due to road traffic and other fossil fuel combustion processes. In

                        Giada Arney

the lower atmosphere (about 10 to 15 kilometers or around 6.2 to 9.3 miles), NO2 from human activities dominate compared to non-human sources. Therefore, observing NO2 on a habitable planet could potentially indicate the presence of industrialized civilization.

Until now, astronomers have detected over 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Some of these planets are habitable; some have conditions suitable for life. Since exoplanets are so distant, scientists cannot look for signs of life or civilization by sending spacecraft to these distant worlds.

The presence of a combination of gases like oxygen and methane in the atmosphere could be a sign of life or biosignature. Likewise, a sign of technology on an exoplanet, called a techno signature, could be what’s considered pollution here on Earth — the presence of a gas that’s released as a byproduct of an overall industrial process, such as NO2.

A new NASA research suggests that we might detect advanced extraterrestrial civilization using its atmospheric pollution. This study is the first time NO2 has been examined as a possible technosignature.

Jacob Haqq-Misra, a co-author of the paper at the Blue Marble Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, said, “Other studies have examined chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as possible technosignatures, which are industrial products that were widely used as refrigerants until they were phased out because of their role in ozone depletion. CFCs are also a powerful greenhouse gas that could terraform a planet like Mars by providing additional warming from the atmosphere. As far as we know, CFCs are not produced by biology, so they are a more obvious technosignature than NO2. However, CFCs are particular manufactured chemicals that might not be prevalent elsewhere; NO2, by comparison, is a general byproduct of any combustion process.”

In this study, scientists used computer modeling to predict whether NO2 pollution would produce a practical signal to detect with current and planned telescopes.
Atmospheric NO2 strongly absorbs some colors (wavelengths) of visible light, which can be seen by observing the light reflected from an exoplanet as it orbits its star. They found that for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, a civilization producing the same amount of NO2 as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away with about 400 hours of observing time using a future large NASA telescope observing at visible wavelengths.

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What Is a Dyson Sphere?

Listen to “E65 8-12-19 What Is a Dyson Sphere?” on Spreaker.

Article by Adam Mann                       August 1, 2019                     (space.com)

• In 1960, British-American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson theorized that as an intelligent alien species’ population increased by 1% per year, their energy needs would grow exponentially becoming a trillion times larger in just 3,000 years. After developing and saturating the local moons and planets in their solar system, they may embark on a longer-term solution: The Dyson sphere.

• A Dyson sphere is a structure with platforms orbiting in tight formation that surrounds and encloses a larger celestial body, such as a gas giant planet like Jupiter or the system’s star itself, like a shell. Such an artificial structure would offer plenty of living space and energy production, drawing from the gas planet or star’s radiation. But as the Dyson sphere absorbed radiation, thereby dimming the planet from an outside observer’s perspective, Dyson theorized that the structure would need to re-radiate this energy through infrared wavelengths to avoid melting the structure itself. Therefore, a Dyson sphere would emit a bright signature in the infrared spectrum while being invisible to the human eye.

• This infrared radiation is considered a type of ‘technosignature’ that astronomers can use to detect an advanced civilization. Since the 1960’s, researchers have scanned infrared maps of the night sky in hopes of spotting a Dyson sphere, without success. But in 2015, Yale University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian did find a distant star that dimmed and flickered. Astronomers speculated that “Tabby’s Star” could be a partially built Dyson sphere. Because other astronomical experiments could not find other technosignatures from the star, scientists now think the object’s light patterns have some kind of non-alien explanation.

• In 1937, Olaf Stapledon first described a “gauze of light traps” surrounding a star system to utilize its solar energy in his novel “Star Maker”. Freeman Dyson acknowledged that this sparked his concept of a Dyson sphere. In 1992, a Dyson sphere was depicted in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

 

A Dyson sphere is a theoretical mega-engineering project that encircles a star with platforms orbiting in tight formation. It is the ultimate solution for living space and energy production, providing its creators ample surface area for habitation and the ability to capture every bit of solar radiation emanating from their central star.

Why build a Dyson sphere?

          Freeman Dyson

Why would anyone construct such a bizarre monstrosity? According to British-American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, who first speculated about these putative structures in 1960, an intelligent alien species might consider the undertaking after settling on some moons and planets in their local stellar neighborhood. As their population increased, these extraterrestrials would start to consume ever-greater amounts of energy.

Assuming this alien society’s populace and industry grew at a modest 1% per year, Dyson’s calculations suggested that the aliens’ area and energy needs would grow exponentially, becoming a trillion times larger in just 3,000 years. Should their solar system contain a Jupiter-size body, the species’ engineers could try to figure out how to take the planet apart and spread its mass in a spherical shell.

              Tabetha Boyajian

By building structures at twice the Earth-sun distance, the material would be sufficient to construct a huge number of orbiting platforms 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) thick, allowing the aliens to live on their star-facing surface. “A shell of this thickness could be made comfortably habitable, and could contain all the machinery required for exploiting the solar radiation falling onto it from the inside,” Dyson wrote.

But after absorbing and exploiting the solar energy, the structure would eventually have to reradiate the energy or else it would build up, causing the sphere to eventually melt, according to Dyson. This means that, to a distant observer, the light of a star wrapped in a Dyson sphere might appear dimmed or even entirely darkened — depending on how dense the orbiting platforms were — while glowing curiously bright in infrared wavelengths that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

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