Copied from: -- New Scientist News

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Marcus Chown

THE search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilisations.

"Artificial structures may be the best way for an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation to signal its presence to an emerging technology like ours," says Luc Arnold of the Observatory of Haute-Provence in France. And he believes that the generation of space-based telescopes now being designed will be able to spot them.

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http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624944.800







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> Copied from: -- New Scientist News
>
> Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
> Marcus Chown
>
> THE search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong
> approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy
> may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by
> alien civilisations.
>
> ...

Hi there Byron,

Interesting article! Of course my twisted mind imagines that we'll discover just such a planet-sized structure orbiting a distant world, only to find it's a brightly lit neon sign that says 'Eat At Joe's!'.

Having a great time reading all the information posted here.

Thanks :)

Dig

---

If astronomers are looking for something like this, that means that they must really believe in the existence of advanced alien civilizations. I'm wondering how much other mainstream scientists are willing to admit about some other alien theories.

> If astronomers are looking for something like this, that means that they must
> really believe in the existence of advanced alien civilizations. I'm wondering
> how much other mainstream scientists are willing to admit about some other
> alien theories.
>

Looking for structures placed in orbit rather than radio signals would significantly narrow the search to the point that it would be much more difficult to locate life outside of our Solar System. While a radio signal search to date hasn't produced any proof of life, radio signals at least are something that comes to us. Looking for structures would be worse than looking for a single needle in a haystack the size of the Universe.

Considering we are in the very infancy of discovering what are believed to be actual fuzzy and blurry planets orbiting distant stars, I fail to see how we can suddenly find alien structures in other universes and be sure of what we find.

The article was an interesting twist on the search however.

---

To truly explore, one must keep an open mind...

Thanks for this Great Story..Byron

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

It is an interesting article, and theoretically it's a way of harnessing a star's output for an intelligent signal. Like sending smoke signals with a star. Who knows how you would build such a huge structure (aluminized mylar in a kevlar frame?), but it isn't inconceivable.

There's one other problem with this, though. There's only a relatively random chance (unless they're trying to signal us in specific) that any such structure would be angled toward us. I pointed out in the PlanetQuest thread that there is a relatively small chance that a Jupiter sized planet orbiting at the distance of Mercury will transit it's star from our position. So to send these "smoke signals" in all directions requires ET put a LOT of them in orbit.

> Looking for structures placed in orbit rather than radio signals would
> significantly narrow the search to the point that it would be much more
> difficult to locate life outside of our Solar System. While a radio signal
> search to date hasn't produced any proof of life, radio signals at least are
> something that comes to us. Looking for structures would be worse than looking
> for a single needle in a haystack the size of the Universe.
>
> Considering we are in the very infancy of discovering what are believed to be
> actual fuzzy and blurry planets orbiting distant stars, I fail to see how we
> can suddenly find alien structures in other universes and be sure of what we
> find.
>
> The article was an interesting twist on the search however.
>

Heh yea, I think radio signals are our best chance indeed; Wasn't there a pyramid-shaped ship in Stargate? I think that aliens would waste too many resources to build something like this. But hey, I'm glad that scientists are getting more creative.

> Heh yea, I think radio signals are our best chance indeed; Wasn't there a
> pyramid-shaped ship in Stargate? I think that aliens would waste too many
> resources to build something like this. But hey, I'm glad that scientists are
> getting more creative.

Yes, that was Stargate. However, what I got from the article is they're likely structures that are used for nothing else but signaling, which is why I suggested the kevlar frame with the mylar sheet. A freely-orbiting object would also need some sort of system for stabilization against the effect of solar wind.

Certainly a planet-sized space station has serious engineering problems. The shuttle has to open its doors upon reaching orbit to expose more radiating surface or the electronics will cause it to overheat (of course, this is probably also due to the fact that every other surface is covered by some of the best insulation made so it can survive reentry).

Still, look at large buildings in cities. The largest have to keep the cooling running even in the dead of winter because they just generate too much heat in their cores (according to Modern Marvels on the History Channel, office buildings consume about a third of the power used in the US). Now imagine that difficulty on a planetary scale.

It's really not likely we're talking about an actual space station.

> > Heh yea, I think radio signals are our best chance indeed; Wasn't there
> a
> > pyramid-shaped ship in Stargate? I think that aliens would waste too
> many
> > resources to build something like this. But hey, I'm glad that scientists
> are
> > getting more creative.
>
> Yes, that was Stargate. However, what I got from the article is they're
> likely structures that are used for nothing else but signaling, which is why I
> suggested the kevlar frame with the mylar sheet. A freely-orbiting object
> would also need some sort of system for stabilization against the effect of
> solar wind.
>
> Certainly a planet-sized space station has serious engineering problems. The
> shuttle has to open its doors upon reaching orbit to expose more radiating
> surface or the electronics will cause it to overheat (of course, this is
> probably also due to the fact that every other surface is covered by some of
> the best insulation made so it can survive reentry).
>
> Still, look at large buildings in cities. The largest have to keep the
> cooling running even in the dead of winter because they just generate too much
> heat in their cores (according to Modern Marvels on the History Channel,
> office buildings consume about a third of the power used in the US). Now
> imagine that difficulty on a planetary scale.
>
> It's really not likely we're talking about an actual space station.
>

Hmm. Like you indicated Murasaki, it could be a nightmare for something of this enormous size to be maintained. Instead of building something that big, they could just build something similar to the size of a large Earth-based system. Surely they would be able to design a much smaller sender that could be as effective as a planet-sized one. And think of how vulnerable a huge system like that would be from space debris; Imagine that you were the alien maintenance guy responsible for making sure this thing was working right!

Man, I didn't know that office buildings in th US use that much of our energy. If that's the case, then they should look for an alternative power supply cuz that's just too much of the pie.

> Hmm. Like you indicated Murasaki, it could be a nightmare for something of
> this enormous size to be maintained. Instead of building something that big,
> they could just build something similar to the size of a large Earth-based
> system. Surely they would be able to design a much smaller sender that could
> be as effective as a planet-sized one. And think of how vulnerable a huge
> system like that would be from space debris; Imagine that you were the alien
> maintenance guy responsible for making sure this thing was working right!

Yeah, I didn't think of that. Micrometeors, comet tails, etc would shred something made out of the materials I suggested.