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If extraterrestrial intelligence exists somewhere in our galaxy, a new MIT study proposes that laser technology on Earth could, in principle, be fashioned into something of a planetary porch light — a beacon strong enough to attract attention from as far as 20,000 light years away.
The research, which author James Clark calls a "feasibility study," appears today in The Astrophysical Journal. The findings suggest that if a high-powered 1- to 2-megawatt laser were focused through a massive 30- to 45-meter telescope and aimed out into space, the combination would produce a beam of infrared radiation strong enough to stand out from the sun's energy.
Such a signal could be detectable by alien astronomers performing a cursory survey of our section of the Milky Way — especially if those astronomers live in nearby systems, such as around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth, or TRAPPIST-1, a star about 40 light-years away that hosts seven exoplanets, three of which are potentially habitable. If the signal is spotted from either of these nearby systems, the study finds, the same megawatt laser could be used to send a brief message in the form of pulses similar to Morse code.
Also at EarthSky.
Optical Detection of Lasers with Near-term Technology at Interstellar Distances (DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aae380) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 08 2018, @08:52PM (1 child)
In all likelihood you're right, however that assumes nobody is more advanced than we are doesn't it, which does show our own superiority complex as a race.
Consider the possibility that while we certainly have to wait for -our- transmission to hit an alien civilization at the speed of light, what's to say they haven't figured out (or will figure out in the 10k years it takes for us to reach them) how to do faster than light communications. Let's say they know how to open a worm hole near us, then send that message at our speeds after it exits it - reaching us in a mere few weeks or less. With the primary purpose of that message to teach us how to set up our own system to send a message back using their system.
Unlikely? Probably. And we shouldn't hope for such a response. But setting it up as a "we were here. Watch how we destroy ourselves and please to save yourselves from the same fate :P" should be good on it's own.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 09 2018, @12:56AM
Your worm-hole communications device, even if it is really unlikely is why I think we should hold off on announcing ourselves.
We don't know what we don't know. Maybe faster-than-light is possible in all sorts of ways.
We don't know, so shaddup.