Given that in the Milky Milky Way, the number of stars for different estimates varies from 200 to 400 billion, it would be somewhat naive to believe that we are with you the only reasonable civilization in the galaxy. What, in this case, talk about the universe, which, as the great Russian poet Joseph Brodsky, "End and Territory" wrote. Many outstanding scientists of the past, despite the deafening cosmic silence, believed that we were not alone in the universe. In November 1974, the currently not existing Observatory of Arecibo, to the huge (about 150 light years in the diameter), the spherical accumulation of stars at a distance of 25,000 light years from the ground was sent a encrypted radio signal. Perhaps someone will ever receive him and will even answer us. But what if a reasonable extraterrestrial life is even closer to our planet? In early 2019, the Astronomer team with the help of the Parce telescope caught an unusual radio signal emanating from the proximation of the Centaul - the closest to our solar star system.
Mysterious radio signal
The team of astronomers is working hard on an analysis of an unusual radio signal discovered in early 2019 with the help of a Parck telescope - a 64-meter radio telescope located in Eastern Australia. The signal apparently came from the proximation of the Centaurus, the nearest to our solar star system, and its characteristics are more typical for artificial broadcasting than for a natural radio source. So can the resulting signal be a long-awaited news from our brothers in mind?
Refrolls of the signal, researchers from a large-scale project to find extraterrestrial life Breakthrough Listen, warn that, although the signal has very specific qualities that distinguish it from typical natural radio emissions, it is most likely noise or interference caused by our own communication technology here on Earth, or at all natural phenomenon, which was not observed earlier.
Within the international project Breakthrough Listen, the researchers are systematically looking for artificial radio signals coming from outside the solar system. The project began in 2015 by the Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking. To date, this initiative is the most advanced and comprehensive search program for aliens, which people have ever made.
Radio signal, attracted the attention of the world community thanks to the screaming headlines in the media (for example, the "mysterious signal sent aliens" or "Aliens's hunters caught the mysterious signal emanating from the nearest star system"), was discovered in April 2019. As British The Guardian found out, "the narrow ray of radio waves was recorded within 30 hours of observations on the Parks telescope in April and May 2019." Note that the signal came at a frequency of 980 MHz and no longer repeated. In addition, the material refers to a certain "shift" of the signal, which resembles a shift created by the movement of the planet.
The name of BLC1, detected by astronomers, the signal was intriguing. However, when the news about his discovery was leaked into the press, astronomers who discovered him quickly indicated that, although the transfer came from some technology, the technology probably belonged to us. For a few weeks who have passed since the appearance of news, the researchers have done a great job, and they believe that, although the signal is artificial, it is probably not the work of aliens.
See also: NASA sent a map into space, according to which aliens will be able to find the path to Earth
Proxima Centaur
And in one sense, this news differs from similar conclusions made in recent years. The fact is that the procus is too weak in itself to see it with the naked eye, but it is the star closest to the ground. If we ever be able to go beyond the solar system and go to another, we probably fly straight to the proxim. Perhaps there is nothing - neither the colony of microbes, nor the community of highly developed creatures. But as for listening to space, in an attempt to detect signs of something familiar and an unusual procamium of Centauri may be a reasonable target.
Since its discovery in 1915, proxima regularly appeared in science fiction stories about interstellar ark and alien empires. In the 1960s, scientists seriously puzzled the search for life outside the Earth and the proxima of the Centaurus was considered by researchers of one of the first. When your search covers the observed universe, proximity is definitely important.
Interestingly, proxima is not like our sun, she is cooler and dim. But she has at least two planets. One of them, proxima C, rotates further from the star, as if miniature Neptune. Another, proxima B, is closer - so close that it lasts only 11 days on it. Proxima B is a rocky planet, about the same size as the Earth, and is within the inhabitable zone of the star - areas where the temperature can allow water to flow along its surface.
We do not know what proxima B looks, and astronomers studying BLC1 do not suggest that the signal source arose there. Contrary to some scientific fiction stories, proxima B is unlikely to become the second home for us. It is known that such stars as the proxima Centauri emit radiation streams sufficient to deprive the nearby planet for many years.
Want to always be aware of the latest news from the world of science and high technology? Subscribe to our news channel in Telegram not to miss anything interesting!
The enthusiasm of the public about BLC1 may have been premature, but if humanity someday will someday a signal from a developed alien civilization, he can come from somewhere nearby. It may seem presumptuous assumption that from hundreds of billions of the Milky Way Stars we could find a reasonable life so close to the ground.
Yes, it is quite arrogant, but not impossible. In the end, recently Astronomer Oxford University Avi Leb suggested that the Mysterious Asteroid Omumumua, who invaded our solar system in 2017, could well be both an alien ship and an alien intelligence probe. Although researchers from Breakthrough Listen warn that with further analysis, an unusual signal is likely to be just a radio interference from human technology - which has already happened earlier - the final conclusions have not yet been made. So it is possible everything.