 I was listening to a podcast about SETI w/Seth Shostak and Michael Godier about how aliens (in theory) might get our attention (& how we might get their attention) One idea: "piggybacking" For an astronomically significant event eg. a supernova you take that opportunity to broadcast your signal in the opposite direction so that everyone who is looking at the supernova gets your signal too. I was musing on what a cool idea this was... but then it hit me. They just invented space pop-up ads. 17 comments
@futurebird but by the time your message reaches a planet with intelligent life, either you or the intelligence inhabitants of that planet are extinct because space is too big for reliable information transmission. @futurebird itβs like that sad ad poster on an abandoned gas station from the eighties.  @CynAq @futurebird That possibility is described in SETI circles by a phrase coined by the physicist Phil Morrison: "SETI is the archaeology of the future". Which is much more poetic than pop-up ads in space.  @futurebird  @futurebird Why are we expecting the aliens to call us first anyway? Seems a bit entitled. Maybe we should be calling them.  @futurebird maybe they explain this in the podcast but wouldn't that end up being a very narrow band of communication, e.g. just a straight line from the source of the supernova through wherever you are and continuing on in the opposite direction. Unless you are basically at the supernova and broadcasting in all directions away from the starting point, that would get a huge area of coverage. @ReverendMoose @futurebird @chakatfirepaw @ReverendMoose @futurebird Seth was describing a search pattern currently being used by the Allen Telescope Array; which is detailed in this paper from last year: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/acdc24 . The "piggybacking" term here has a double meaning. It also refers to searching through radio astronomy observations of unusual natural sources to look for any potential artificial ones. So the array is doing good science, even if it has not found aliens. @futurebird  LB ππ» βHey, we noticed youβre using a narrowband notch reject EM filter. Please support our civilization by disabling your blocker.β @futurebird@sauropods.wini |
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@futurebird "Hot planet in your area !"