Thanks to the next-gen telescopes and tiny space probes, we now know that the galaxy is teeming with several planets. Expectedly, this revelation has re-energized the search for alien technologies.
In a recent effort, astronomers used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope to scan the sky around the Vela constellation.
It’s a patch of sky known to include at least 10 million stars. According to CSIRO astronomer, Dr. Chenoa Tremblay, that’s roughly a hundred times broader than any previous effort to find alien civilization.
Dr. Tremblay further explained that MWA searched for powerful radio emissions at frequencies similar to FM radio frequencies. These “technosignatures” could indicate the existence of an intelligent source.
However, it appears that extraterrestrial civilization remains elusive in this part of the universe.
In a statement about the project, Dr. Tremblay said:
“We observed the sky around the constellation of Vela for 17 hours, looking more than 100 times broader and deeper than ever before. With this dataset, we found no technosignatures — no sign of intelligent life.”
One of the researchers, professor Steven Tingay, pointed out that while this is the broadest search yet, the result isn’t surprising.
Here’s why.
The MWA’s Search for Alien Technologies
Despite covering more area than ever before, it was still relatively negligible.
“The amount of space we looked at was the equivalent of trying to find something in the Earth’s oceans but only searching a volume of water equivalent to a large backyard swimming pool,” Tingay said.
Moreover, it’s impossible to know how possible alien civilizations might utilize their technologies. As such, it becomes essential to explore the universe in many different ways.
For example, radio telescopes like the MWA can enable astronomers to explore an eight-dimensional search space, said the researcher.
Professor Tingay noted:
“Although there is a long way to go in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, telescopes such as the MWA will continue to push the limits — we have to keep looking.”
The researchers published their findings in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
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