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ALIEN civilizations far more advanced than ours may be lying in wait in distant galaxies - and scientists are finally embarking on a search to find them.

A coalition of scientists have set out to find signs of extraterrestrial technology, called technosignatures, in the first study of its kind.

Scientists have set their sights on distant galaxies in search of evidence of alien technology, dubbed 'technosignatures' (pictured: Vela supernova remnant)
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Scientists have set their sights on distant galaxies in search of evidence of alien technology, dubbed 'technosignatures' (pictured: Vela supernova remnant)Credit: CTIO/ NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA

The SETI Institute, the Berkely SETI Research Center, and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research banded together to search for alien life.

In a paper submitted to arXiv on August 19, the team detailed their hunt for interstellar signals, particularly low radio frequencies around 100 MHz.

They employed the help of the Murchison Widefield Array, a radio telescope in Western Australia.

The telescope's large field of view allowed them to cover roughly 2,800 galaxies in one observation. Of these, scientists know the distance to 1,300 of them.

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The researchers honed in on a cluster of galaxies near the Vela supernova remnant, the remains of a millennia-old explosion in the southern constellation.

The hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence has largely centered around signals within the Milky Way, so the focus on distant galaxies makes this study one of the most comprehensive to date.

"When we consider the search for intelligent life beyond Earth, we often consider the age and advancement of technology that may produce a signal detectable by our telescopes," the paper reads.

"In popular culture, advanced civilizations are portrayed as having interstellar spacecraft and communication."

To send a signal from a distant galaxy, a civilization would have to garner the energy of their sun or stars to power advanced technology.

Scientists have long been charmed by the idea of our extraterrestrial neighbors beaming a signal into space.

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Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev devised a scale in 1964 to classify a civilization's level of advancement based on the amount of energy it can use.

Experts haven't shied away from exploring every possibility, even those pulled straight from fiction.

The concept of a Dyson sphere was first proposed in the 1937 novel Star Maker. This super-advanced structure cages a star and captures enough energy to power a civilization.

While the latest study couldn't detect any technosignatures, it brings us one step closer to locating our distant neighbors.

A coalition of scientists used the Murchison Widefield Array (pictured), a powerful radio telescope in Western Australia, to search for signals
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A coalition of scientists used the Murchison Widefield Array (pictured), a powerful radio telescope in Western Australia, to search for signalsCredit: SETI Institute

“This work represents a significant step forward in our efforts to detect signals from advanced extraterrestrial civilizations,” said co-author Chenoa Tremblay.

Other researchers are concurrently searching for different signs of alien technology.

A paper published in The Astrophysical Journal focused on evidence of solar panels on potential "Earth-like exoplanets."

That study, too, was inconclusive. Scientists determined a civilization harnessing solar power would be nearly impossible to detect, as solar energy is too efficient.

But there is another possibility: advanced extraterrestrial civilizations may be so far ahead of us that they don't rely on solar or stellar energy.

Most searches for alien technology have honed in on the Milky Way, meaning the latest study is the most comprehensive to date
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Most searches for alien technology have honed in on the Milky Way, meaning the latest study is the most comprehensive to dateCredit: Getty

Despite the setbacks, scientists remain persistent.

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"The MWA continues to open up new ways of exploring the Universe for intelligent civilizations and technosignatures, while using the same data to study the astrophysics of stars and galaxies," co-author Steven Tingay said.

"This work is new and novel, but also paves the way for future observations with even more powerful telescopes."

A timeline of life on Earth

The history of the planet in years...

  • 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth
  • 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
  • 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
  • 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
  • 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve
  • 530million years ago – first fish appear
  • 470million years ago – first land plants appear
  • 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
  • 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
  • 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
  • 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
  • 200million years ago – mammals appear
  • 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve
  • 130million years ago – first flowering plants
  • 100million years ago – earliest bees
  • 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
  • 30million years ago – first cats evolve
  • 20million years ago – great apes evolve
  • 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear
  • 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears
  • 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
  • 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
  • 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
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