NASA/Casey Reed
New study revealed two identical fast impulses of a sun-like star about 100 light years from Earth, which coincide with similar impulses from a different star observed four years ago.
More than sixty years ago, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Seti) officially began with the Greenbank Observatory in the US. Led by the famous astronomer Frank Drake, this study used the 25 -meter satellite antenna from the Obsylon to monitor Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti – two near sun -like stars – between April and July 1960.
Since then, several studies have been performed at different wavelengths to Seek evidence of technological activity around other stars.
Although no conclusive evidence has been found indicating the presence of an advanced civilization, there were many cases where scientists could not exclude this possibility. In a recent article, NASA scientist Richard H. Stanton describes the results of his multi -annual study of over 1300 sun -like stars in search of optical Seti signs.
This research has revealed two identical fast impulses from an Earth’s 100-year-old sun-like star, which coincide with similar impulses from a different star observed four years ago. O was published in the magazine Astronautics.
For years, Stanton has used these instruments to observe more than 1,300 sun -like stars in search of Seti optical signs. The Optic Seti seeks light impulses that can result from laser communications or directed energy arrays. This last example has been considered in recent years thanks to , the concept of propulsion of energy directed to NASA’s interstellar exploration (Deep-in) and the similar concepts of interstellar missions.
As Stanton indicated, the field of Seti Optic has its roots in a 1961 of Schwartz and Townes. They thought that the best form of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) sending an optical signal that surpassed its star would be through intense nanosecond laser impulses. These impulses are sought through special equipment in infrared wavelengths, high resolution spectra or visible light.
“My approach consists of look at a single star for about an hour, Using photon count to obtain star light samples with a temporal resolution considered very high for astronomy (100 microsecond samples), ”says the author.
After years of research, Stanton registered an unexpected “signal” by observing HD 89389, a slightly brighter and massive faster F star than our sun, located in the Ursa Major constellation. This signal consisted of Two fast and identical impulses with 4.4 seconds of interval that had not been revealed in other investigations. Then he made comparisons with signs produced by aircraft, satellites, meteors, lightning, atmospheric sparkling, system noise, etc.
As he explained, several things about the impulses detected around the HD89389 have made us unique to everything that was previously seen: “The star gets brighterbrighter, and then returns to its ambient level, all in about 0.2s. This variation is too strong to be caused by random noise or atmospheric turmoil. ”
A reassessment of historical data for similar signs revealed Another pair of impulses detected around HD 217014 (51 PREASI) in 2021. This G-type G-type sequence star is located about 50.6 light years from Earth and is similar in size, mass and age in our sun.
Other possibilities that Stanton explores include the diffraction caused by the atmosphere of the earthpossibly due to a wave of shock. However, this is unlikely, as shock waves would have to occur at a perfect time to coincide with both optical impulses.
Other hypotheses include diffraction of star light by a distant body in the solar systempartial eclipses caused by satellites of the earth or distant asteroids, and the “edge diffraction” by a straight edge (as described by the Sommerfeld effect).
There is also the possibility that a gravitational wave has generated these impulses, which requires additional consideration. Another interesting possibility is that it can be the result of eti. As Stanton indicated, whatever has modulated the light of these stars must be relatively close to Earth, which implies that any ETI activity must be within our solar system. However, Stanton points out that more data is needed.
“None of these explanations is really satisfactory at this time,” he said. “We do not know what kind of object could produce these impulses, nor how far it is. We do not know if the sign of two impulses is produced by Something that passes between us and the star or if it is generated by Something that modulates the light of the star without moving through the field. Until we know more, we can’t even say whether or not there are extraterrestrials involved! ”
Stanton’s method has many opportunities for future research Seti, which could look for similar examples of optical impulses.
“Observing events with telescopes separated by a few hundred kilometers could show that any separation at the time of arrival of each impulse is due to only Differences in star light time for each telescope. So, unless the variation could be attributed in some way to the star itself, we would have even more to explain! ”, The author concludes.
