Searching for life in space is no longer fringe. – With such a large number of expected planets, it would have been almost surprising if we were alone in the Milky Way. Sven Wedemeyer Astrophysicist and professor An American research team is now launching a new report after searching through millions of potential radio signals. With specially built antennas, the SETI Institute searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. Nick Tusay and the gang have combed through millions of possible radio signals looking for traces of extraterrestrial technology. The researchers have focused on the Trappist-1 solar system, which is “only” a scant 41 light-years away from us (approx. 38 trillion miles). This system is interesting because it has seven Earth-like planets. Several of them have conditions that enable life, as we know it, to thrive there. Despite the fact that they are much closer to their dwarf star than we are to our sun. – If the atmosphere and the ingredients for life have not been blown away by the solar wind, life may have arisen there. Stephanie Werner Stephanie Werner works at the Center for Planetary Habitability at UiO. She has not been involved in SETI research. – It is probably better to look for planets around more sun-like stars because they are quieter throughout their lifetime. At least it worked in our solar system, says Werner, who himself hunts for biological traces from such solar systems. The new method the Americans use involves listening for radio signals from two exoplanets when they are in line with Earth. This way they can pick up communications from one planet to the other. The team is part of what is a systematic hunt for radio signals. The hunt has been going on since the 60s. The wow signal was recorded by Jerry Ehman in 1977 and lasted 72 seconds. It came from the constellation Sagittarius. Although it was never detected again, several natural phenomena have been proposed to explain such a strong signal. Photo: NAAPO The Wow signal, which was discovered in 1977, was never fully explained because it never repeated itself. Other signals have been shown to be from man-made sources, such as satellites or more earth-based sources. Signals captured by the Parkes Observatory in Australia over several years have been shown to come from the researchers’ own use of microwave ovens, when they opened the doors while the appliances were switched on. NASA / JPL-Caltech The American scientists chose to listen to Trappist-1 because there are at least three planets in the habitable zone. From 25 million possible signals from Trappist-1, the researchers narrowed it down to 11,000 candidates. Among these, they found over 2,000 radio signals. None of them were created by extraterrestrial civilizations, but the researchers hope to find something with new telescopes that will collect signals over an area of one square kilometer in South Africa and Australia as illustrated here. Future searches with larger telescopes could help scientists detect even fainter signals and expand our understanding of the universe, according to the research team. – What will be the consequence if we find signs of intelligent life? – The question is how religious you are. The idea of life on earth as unique and that humans are the crown of creation must be revised, says Stephanie Werner. One of the criticisms of research into life in space is that it is impossible to prove that there is no life out there. No matter how long you search, without results, you can always say that there is a slim chance of finding life in a universe that can practically be considered infinite. – What if we don’t find anything? – We have to keep looking. And along the way, we also learn about how stars work, about the atmospheres of planets and we gain a greater understanding of how a planet works, Werner replies. “The great filter” is one of the theories as to why the universe does not see life. Sven Wedemeyer believes that the fact that we do not find signs of intelligent life does not necessarily mean that it does not exist. Our own signals have only reached just over a hundred light years into space. – Just think about how we humans have developed our technology during the last 100 years that we have been sending radio waves. It is not inconceivable that intelligent life forms have developed more advanced forms of communication and that they thus become invisible to our search for radio signals. The research report is available as a preprint here. Do you think there is intelligent life beyond Earth? Yes No Do not want to answer yes or no Show result
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Why can’t we find life in space? – Long reading from news Trøndelag
