It is this Tuesday that, under the theme of Space and sustainability, the Extraterrestrial Intelligence of Messaging, based in San Francisco, United States, will search for extraterrestrial life.
From the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in the United Kingdom, the METI group intends to send a message to the star Trappist-1, located 39 light years from Earth, and which is orbited by seven planets, three of which are located in an area where water can remain in a liquid state, that is, with the potential to support life.
According to Douglas Vakoch, president of METI, the message to be sent will contain data on atoms and the periodic table, as well as scientific information on the environment on planet Earth. However, it is not just scientific data that will be sent into space. The stream will also contain music samples. Among them, “Ode 1. Ode to the Herald of God. A Beauty of the Earth”, by the Soviet composer Eduard Artemyev, and “Journey through the asteroid belt”, from The comet is coming.
But anyone who thinks that the response will be as fast as an email is wrong. The distance that separates us from Trappist-1 is such that, if there is intelligent life, with a sufficient level of development to interpret and respond to our message, that response will not arrive for another 80 years.
David Sobral, astrophysicist and author of the book “What is our place in the universe?”, acknowledges that there are some obstacles to discovering intelligent life using the METI method, since “there would have to be aliens looking for them. They are going to send it is something unnatural But even so, there had to be radio antennas pointing towards Earth to detect them and activate some mechanism.” Still, David Sobral admits that the method is viable.
On the other hand, the astrophysicist who led the team that discovered the CR7 galaxy, the brightest in the early universe, leaves a warning: do we want to send a signal saying that we are here? “There’s already been a lot of scientific discussion about whether it’s a good idea to send signals that say we’re here. Maybe we don’t want to attract the attention of other civilizations that might be more sophisticated. But other than that, it’s not a major scientific activity, no.” This is what most scientists do. Normally we listen, we try to pick up these signals and not send them. However, this has already been done, it has also been tried. But now we are beginning to know where these planets with potential exist. for life, emphasizes David Sobral.
The astrophysicist recognizes that the Trappist-1 star is orbited by planets that, in principle, are similar to ours. However, he does leave one caveat: this star has different characteristics than our sun. “This is perhaps one of the most spectacular solar systems, with seven planets, many of them very similar, in principle, to Earth. But at the same time, we are talking about a solar system even older, and this perhaps brings some relevance, than our solar system. This star is very small, it is something almost the size of Jupiter. So although it may have some similarities, or properties that could support life, or have led to the existence of life. , is a very alien solar system, with a very red star, very cold. You cannot spend a vacation in August, even if there is something like Portugal”, highlights David Sobral.
Finding extraterrestrial life has long been a yearning for the scientific community linked to the universe. Astrophysicist David Sobral believes that, at a microscopic level, this discovery could be close. “A great discovery would already be finding life outside of Earth, which had its origin outside of Earth. I think this step is already a giant step, and I think this step is the one that is closest to happening. system itself, in two of the gas giants, or a kind of signature of microbial life on other planets and in other solar systems. Now, intelligent life, I’d say there’s maybe a lot more time left. There is uncertainty about the amount of this intelligent life And the big problem is the distance”, concludes the author of the book “What is our place in the universe?”.
Source: TSF
