[HN Gopher] NASA Is Quietly Funding a Hunt for Alien Megastructures
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NASA Is Quietly Funding a Hunt for Alien Megastructures
Author : elsewhen
Score : 84 points
Date : 2021-07-10 14:52 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vice.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vice.com)
| black_puppydog wrote:
| The last astronomy cast is also about technosignatures.
|
| https://astronomycast.libsyn.com/ep-612-the-seti-renaissance
| potiuper wrote:
| Interstellar (non-carbon based) life will go straight for the
| nearest suitable (stable) black hole to setup a kugelblitz as it
| is the most efficient, which we might get (un?)lucky enough to
| detect with the JWT depending on how good the infrared emissions
| are managed + distance.
| s1artibartfast wrote:
| I don't understand what you are implying. After looking it up,
| a kugelblitz is a type of black hold. What does it mean to go
| to a black hole to set up a black hole?
| senortumnus wrote:
| Brb looking up kugelblitz edit: :O
| phkahler wrote:
| What if that's what subatomic particles actually are?
| fnord77 wrote:
| > _In 1993, NASA famously killed a search program intended to
| find microwave signals that were artificial in origin. "That had
| a chilling effect for a couple decades," said Steve Croft, a
| radio astronomer and leader of the Breakthrough Listen project at
| the Berkeley SETI Research Center._
|
| yeah because it was pseudo-science.
| bb2018 wrote:
| NASA's version of doing things quietly is pretty loud
|
| https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/06/28/nasa-administrator-...
|
| I honestly am cool with NASA getting lots more money but also
| seems clear that the beurocrats have realized the best way to
| secure more funding now is no longer to make a national security
| argument - but one involving overhyping the evidence of aliens.
| hypertele-Xii wrote:
| Curiosity trumps fear.
| fogdart wrote:
| Assuming we could see it. I'm not a physicist but I have read
| this book series called The Three Body Problem, in which we
| discover alien structures, but in the fourth dimension.
| Tenoke wrote:
| The three body problem is more magical realism than scientific
| really.
| asimovfan wrote:
| thanks for spoiling it! i was meaning to read it.
| bashinator wrote:
| That's hardly a spoiler
| Tenoke wrote:
| I'd definitely consider it one and would've dropped the
| book if someone had told me just when I started it.
| l-lousy wrote:
| The 4th dimension is used as more of a metaphor or minor plot
| point. The series has a much more valuable message.
| [deleted]
| Crash0v3rid3 wrote:
| I hope we can one day identify intelligent life outside of Earth
| in my lifetime.
| pohl wrote:
| I'd settle for any life beyond Earth or intelligent life on
| Earth.
| zoomablemind wrote:
| > I hope we can one day identify intelligent life outside of
| Earth in my lifetime.
|
| Discovery of a simple life would be a big deal too. Perhaps the
| whole notion of intellegence or even our own origins could as
| well be affected by such a discovery.
| checkyoursudo wrote:
| Simple life might be preferable, as it would be less likely
| to notice us and come annihilate us!
| bserge wrote:
| Or the other way around... Although it would be great for
| humanity.
| [deleted]
| woleium wrote:
| https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/183103
| JoeDaDude wrote:
| I for one, would like to attend thie SETI Symposium , attendance
| at which is one of the items funded:
|
| https://sites.psu.edu/setisymposium2021/
| mouzogu wrote:
| It would be pretty crazy to detect some kind of megastructure
| whilst also knowing that there is probably no way we could ever
| communicate with them. At least not in any practical sense.
| echelon wrote:
| Imagine if we detect one heading in our general direction. :)
| emteycz wrote:
| Nice, lots of new alien invasion movies on Netflix (just like
| the wave of pandemic-themed stuff now)!
| jl6 wrote:
| The article focuses on megastructures for the clicks but it seems
| the actual project uses the more restrained term
| "technosignatures" (of which megastructures might be one, albeit
| a far-fetched one).
|
| A more likely technosignature is the presence in a planetary
| atmosphere of a chemical that is produced by no known natural
| mechanism - and that of course would not automatically prove
| alien life, because we might just have overlooked a possible
| natural pathway to the production of that chemical.
| queuebert wrote:
| Megastructures are probably less likely, yes, but should be a
| much more confident detection. Who knows all the chemical
| production networks possible in a planetary atmosphere. But
| there aren't many ways to make a star-sized perfect blackbody.
| plutonorm wrote:
| are they? why?
| [deleted]
| perihelions wrote:
| The particular grant highlighted in OP is for transiting
| megastructures in TESS light curves. I don't think the article
| was misleading.
|
| > _" Motivated by these discoveries, we are embarking on a
| project to quantify the frequency of anomalous fading events--
| and hence occulting structures--among main sequence stars. Our
| objectives are two- fold: First, we will detect or put a
| stringent limit on the presence of transiting megastructures;
| second, we will assess the frequency of transiting minor bodies
| in planetary systems."_
|
| > _" However, the proposed study will enable us to place the
| most stringent limits yet on the presence of large artificial
| structures orbiting stars in our Galaxy, and correspondingly on
| the presence of technologically advanced life."_
|
| https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/...
| RosanaAnaDana wrote:
| I am slowly getting the creeping sense that maybe there is
| something to all this.
|
| Also, if they were looking for alien megastructure I would check
| the oceans first. Would seem far easier to go undetected at
| depth.
| WJW wrote:
| I don't think you understand quite how "mega" these structures
| are. There's not an ocean in the galaxy that is big enough to
| contain a dyson sphere.
| belter wrote:
| Some perspective...
|
| "Universe Size Comparison 3D"
|
| https://youtu.be/i93Z7zljQ7I
| RosanaAnaDana wrote:
| You are correct.
| echelon wrote:
| > I am slowly getting the creeping sense that maybe there is
| something to all this.
|
| By "all this", do you mean the recent Pentagon releases on
| UFOs/UAPs?
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