A RECENT study has revealed a new method scientists can use to try and spot alien life.
Experts should keep an eye out for city lights on exoplanets when searching for extraterrestrial technology, researchers said.
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Scientists have been searching for extraterrestrial life through technosignatures – manifestations of technology that can be detected through astronomical means, Space.com reported.
Historically, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has focused on radio signals but the new study suggests that light may be a superior metric.
“For example, sharp-eyed aliens scrutinizing Earth’s nightside might be able to deduce our presence via the emissions from city lights here, even though such emissions are relatively concentrated,” Space.com reported.
“And advanced civilizations on exoplanets may have built cities over significantly more of their planets’ surfaces.”
The authors of the study wrote: “These more urbanized planets would have a higher nightside brightness from city lights, and be correspondingly easier to detect.”
Scientists said that missions can be improved by implementing a search for technosignatures, which would have no added cost.
This comes as government agencies are amping up their search for extraterrestrial life.
Alien seeking satellites
NASA is stepping up its efforts to hunt for UFOs with hopes that a piece of technology already floating around in space could help examine unidentified objects.
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The US space agency says it is exploring the possibility of transforming satellites into alien seekers as a way to probe unexplained sightings without having to launch new equipment.
Nasa’s plan to see whether pre-existing satellites can be turned into alien hunting machines is part of a larger study to examine “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
The unidentified phenomena study isn’t set to kick off until later this year, but experts on the team are already coming up with big plans, like figuring out how they can utilize technology that’s already in place.
“This team is going to be looking at questions like: ‘Do we have sensors that can see things, you know, take another look at the evidence?’” the agency’s deputy administrator Col. Pam Melroy said during a press conference in London, according to The Telegraph.
“One of the big questions…is: ‘We have a tonne of satellites looking down at the Earth, are any of them useful?’” Melroy said.
“I mean, before you build a rover that’s going to Mars, you ask yourself, ‘What’s the sensor I have to build to detect the most interesting thing?’ So they’re going to really focus on that,” Melroy continued.
“How would you get the evidence that you need to be able to determine if it’s an optical phenomena or some other kind (of phenomena)?”
Nasa revealed its plans for the unidentified aerial phenomena study in June.
The agency said the focal points of the study will include identifying available data, best practices to collect future data, and how to use that data to move the science of unexplained sightings forward.
According to Nasa, such unexplained phenemona have ramifications on national security and air safety.
Nasa has reiterated that there is no evidence indicating these unexplained sightings are at all extra-terrestrial in nature.
But the agency says understanding whether the events are natural is critical.
“NASA believes that the tools of scientific discovery are powerful and apply here also,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“We have the tools and team who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is. That’s what we do.”
These recent revelations are part of a string of developments in the way of better understanding unexplained objects and the search for extraterrestrial life.
In May, Pentagon officials held the first hearing to discuss unidentified aerial phenomena – or UAPs – since the 60s.
During the hearing, defense officials admitted there had been 400 sightings and 11 near miss collisions with UFOs.
This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
