Feb 15, 2022 06:28 PM
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-astronomer...igent.html
EXCERPTS: Humanity has pursued the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in one form or another since shortly after the advent of radio waves in the early 20th century. [...] The search detected transient hints in the form of unexplained radio waves in the past, but nothing that comprises reliable evidence. Now, a new search for technosignatures in the Milky Way's center has turned up nothing.
[...] A new paper titled "A Search for Technosignatures toward the Galactic Centre at 150 MHz" is the fourth in a series. Each of the four is a search for low-frequency radio waves using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia. The lead author is Chenoa Tremblay from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO.) The paper is available on the pre-press site arxiv.org.
The results come from seven hours of observations over two nights with the MWA. The search was aimed at the galactic center, focused on Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's core. The searchers targeted their search for technosignatures on 144 exoplanetary systems.
The [usual] search for life focuses on biosignatures. Biosignatures are things like molecules or isotopes that indicate the presence of life. Technosignatures are different.
[...] The recent search was aimed at 144 exoplanet systems, but it also completed a wider blind search of over 3 million stars toward the galactic center and the galactic bulge. The authors write that "No plausible technosignatures are detected." In the end, saying no signatures were detected doesn't mean there aren't any signals to be detected. It just means that at this particular time, using the specific ramifications of this search methodology, no signals were detected.
Should we be sad? Maybe not. Each of these attempts reveals something about the search method, and provides a chance to improve methods in the future... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Humanity has pursued the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in one form or another since shortly after the advent of radio waves in the early 20th century. [...] The search detected transient hints in the form of unexplained radio waves in the past, but nothing that comprises reliable evidence. Now, a new search for technosignatures in the Milky Way's center has turned up nothing.
[...] A new paper titled "A Search for Technosignatures toward the Galactic Centre at 150 MHz" is the fourth in a series. Each of the four is a search for low-frequency radio waves using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia. The lead author is Chenoa Tremblay from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO.) The paper is available on the pre-press site arxiv.org.
The results come from seven hours of observations over two nights with the MWA. The search was aimed at the galactic center, focused on Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's core. The searchers targeted their search for technosignatures on 144 exoplanetary systems.
The [usual] search for life focuses on biosignatures. Biosignatures are things like molecules or isotopes that indicate the presence of life. Technosignatures are different.
[...] The recent search was aimed at 144 exoplanet systems, but it also completed a wider blind search of over 3 million stars toward the galactic center and the galactic bulge. The authors write that "No plausible technosignatures are detected." In the end, saying no signatures were detected doesn't mean there aren't any signals to be detected. It just means that at this particular time, using the specific ramifications of this search methodology, no signals were detected.
Should we be sad? Maybe not. Each of these attempts reveals something about the search method, and provides a chance to improve methods in the future... (MORE - missing details)