Science & Technology

Biggest hunt for highly intelligent aliens yields no results

The search was conducted as part of the Breakthrough Listen Initiative which kicked off in 2015

 
Published: Saturday 29 June 2019

Are we the only Life forms in the entire universe? This has been an age-old question that science thrives to find answers to. We have filled our science fiction stories with aliens from space and from far away galaxies, which are technologically more advanced than us, make contact with us, or even try to invade us.

But seems the wait for answers about our lonely existence will still continue as the latest article published in the Astrophysical Journal reveals that there are no Alien life forms in the closest 1300 stars.

This search was the most comprehensive one yet in the pursuit of finding the Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program ever undertaken. The researchers, who surveyed 1,327 nearby stars for signals from intelligent beings turned empty handed in the end.

The search was conducted as part of the Breakthrough Listen Initiative which kicked off in 2015. This is a 10-year endeavor funded by Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and costs around $100 million. The aim of this initiative was to scan the skies for other living species or other evidence created by technological creatures on other worlds.

The initiative relied on two of the world's most powerful telescopes — the 328-foot-diameter (100 meters) Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and the 210-foot-diameter (64 m) Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.

Researchers say there could be many explanations for the lack of alien signals, including usage of wrong frequencies, or signals hidden by radio interference from Earth. Researchers also think that they may be limited by the available technology and methods of our time.

Although they couldn’t find alternative life forms, researchers have not given up in their pursuit. They intend to use the upcoming MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, an observatory that will consist of 64 separate 44-foot-diameter (13.5 m) arrays, to search more than a million stars in our neighborhood.

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :
Related Stories

Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.