You know how astronomers are always looking for signs of alien life out there? Well it looks like they may have found us first. A scientific report states that there’s 29 planets where alien life could possibly be able to see or hear evidence of us based on our own techniques for studying the universe.
Astronomers made this discovery by first identifying 1,715 solar systems that would be able to spot Earth during humanity’s period of existence, give or take 5,000 years from today. This list was then narrowed down to 46 star systems that are close enough to hear or radio and TV broadcasts which started around 100 years ago. Systems which were classed as inhospitable were then eliminated which leaves roughly 29 planets where alien life could hear and see us.
The question is: How come they haven’t responded to us? Maybe our radio broadcasts are the equivalent of that one annoying person who posts 100 tweets an hour? For now, we’ll choose to believe that they haven’t developed a better way to communicate with us.
Reported in the journal Nature by two New York-based astronomers, they suggest that aliens would be also able to see the Earth’s faint shadow as it orbits I front of the sun. This is a technique that astronomers have used to find various worlds similar to Earth.
Lisa Kaltenegger, co-author of the article and Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University elaborated on this technique to The Guardian by stating that, “One way we find planets is if they block out part of the light from their host star.”
“When I look up into the sky, it looks a little bit friendlier because it’s like maybe somebody is waving”.
Maybe one day the aliens will wave back, but for now we’ll have to just use our imagination until we learn more about what’s out there.
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