Interstellar (non-carbon based) life will go straight for the nearest suitable (stable) black hole to setup a kugelblitz as it is the most efficient, which we might get (un?)lucky enough to detect with the JWT depending on how good the infrared emissions are managed + distance.
I don't understand what you are implying. After looking it up, a kugelblitz is a type of black hold. What does it mean to go to a black hole to set up a black hole?
It would be pretty crazy to detect some kind of megastructure whilst also knowing that there is probably no way we could ever communicate with them. At least not in any practical sense.
I honestly am cool with NASA getting lots more money but also seems clear that the beurocrats have realized the best way to secure more funding now is no longer to make a national security argument - but one involving overhyping the evidence of aliens.
Assuming we could see it. I'm not a physicist but I have read this book series called The Three Body Problem, in which we discover alien structures, but in the fourth dimension.
The article focuses on megastructures for the clicks but it seems the actual project uses the more restrained term “technosignatures” (of which megastructures might be one, albeit a far-fetched one).
A more likely technosignature is the presence in a planetary atmosphere of a chemical that is produced by no known natural mechanism - and that of course would not automatically prove alien life, because we might just have overlooked a possible natural pathway to the production of that chemical.
Megastructures are probably less likely, yes, but should be a much more confident detection. Who knows all the chemical production networks possible in a planetary atmosphere. But there aren't many ways to make a star-sized perfect blackbody.
The particular grant highlighted in OP is for transiting megastructures in TESS light curves. I don't think the article was misleading.
>"Motivated by these discoveries, we are embarking on a project to quantify the frequency of anomalous fading events-- and hence occulting structures--among main sequence stars. Our objectives are two- fold: First, we will detect or put a stringent limit on the presence of transiting megastructures; second, we will assess the frequency of transiting minor bodies in planetary systems."
>"However, the proposed study will enable us to place the most stringent limits yet on the presence of large artificial structures orbiting stars in our Galaxy, and correspondingly on the presence of technologically advanced life."
Can you provide an example of such a synthetic chemical, that would be present in levels that would be detectable on Earth from across interstellar space? CFCs?
Isn't just elemental Oxygen enough, for example? I may be missing something but I think it's unstable in the presence of a huge variety of other elements/chemicals. Of course that could only signal life, at best, can't tell you if it's intelligent.
> In 1993, NASA famously killed a search program intended to find microwave signals that were artificial in origin. “That had a chilling effect for a couple decades,” said Steve Croft, a radio astronomer and leader of the Breakthrough Listen project at the Berkeley SETI Research Center.
> I hope we can one day identify intelligent life outside of Earth in my lifetime.
Discovery of a simple life would be a big deal too. Perhaps the whole notion of intellegence or even our own origins could as well be affected by such a discovery.
44 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 48.6 ms ] threadAlso, if they were looking for alien megastructure I would check the oceans first. Would seem far easier to go undetected at depth.
"Universe Size Comparison 3D"
https://youtu.be/i93Z7zljQ7I
By "all this", do you mean the recent Pentagon releases on UFOs/UAPs?
https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2021/
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/06/28/nasa-administrator-...
I honestly am cool with NASA getting lots more money but also seems clear that the beurocrats have realized the best way to secure more funding now is no longer to make a national security argument - but one involving overhyping the evidence of aliens.
A more likely technosignature is the presence in a planetary atmosphere of a chemical that is produced by no known natural mechanism - and that of course would not automatically prove alien life, because we might just have overlooked a possible natural pathway to the production of that chemical.
>"Motivated by these discoveries, we are embarking on a project to quantify the frequency of anomalous fading events-- and hence occulting structures--among main sequence stars. Our objectives are two- fold: First, we will detect or put a stringent limit on the presence of transiting megastructures; second, we will assess the frequency of transiting minor bodies in planetary systems."
>"However, the proposed study will enable us to place the most stringent limits yet on the presence of large artificial structures orbiting stars in our Galaxy, and correspondingly on the presence of technologically advanced life."
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/...
yeah because it was pseudo-science.
Discovery of a simple life would be a big deal too. Perhaps the whole notion of intellegence or even our own origins could as well be affected by such a discovery.
https://astronomycast.libsyn.com/ep-612-the-seti-renaissance