2023-10-25 10:59:07
Telescopio LOFAR en Irlanda – TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
MADRID, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Astrophysicists are perfecting a new technique to search for artificial radio signals outside Earth from various observatories and in an unexplored segment of the spectrum.
Scientists have been searching for these kinds of ‘technosignatures’ for more than 60 years. Much of the research has been carried out using single observatories, which limits the ability to identify signals of ground interference haze on Earth. Much of the effort has focused on frequencies above 1 GHz because the single-dish telescopes used operate at these frequencies.
Using the Irish LOFAR telescope and its counterpart in Onsala, Sweden, a team, led by Professor Evan Keane, Associate Professor of Radio Astronomy at the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin and Director of the Irish LOFAR Telescope, plans to monitor millions of star systems . Specific, is perfecting a multi-site, multi-telescope technique that allows them to search at much lower frequencies, from 110 to 190 MHz.
The Breakthrough Listen program develops specific instruments on the Irish and Swedish LOFAR stations. Using multiple sites has the main advantage that it is much less likely to provide a “false positive” signal; These signals arise due to interference from many human sources on Earth.
The team just published details of their method and their ongoing search in The Astronomical Journal. They have already scanned 1.6 million star systems identified as interesting objectives by the Gaia and TESS space missions, led by ESA and NASA respectively. So far these searches have come up empty.
But the search has only just begun. Professor Keane said it’s a statement: “Over the past 50 years, evidence has steadily increased that the constituents and conditions necessary for life are relatively common in the universe, raising one of life’s biggest unanswered questions: Are we really alone?”
“To some people, the ‘Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI’ may seem like something out of a movie, but it has been a scientific quest for decades, and for a number of very good reasons.”
“With this project we base our search on the common assumption that civilizations in other parts of the universe can employ technologies similar to those developed on Earth. As a result, radio frequencies are a logical domain to conduct SETI studies due to the widespread use of telecommunications and “Radar and our access to next-generation radio telescopes “They offer a great opportunity for a deep dive into the universe.”
LOFAR will soon undergo a series of phased upgrades at all array stations across Europe, enabling even broader SETI in ranges from 15 to 240 MHz.
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