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No Intelligent Aliens Detected In Gliese 581
astroengine writes "Using an Australian very long baseline array (VLBA) of three radio antennae, the first very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) campaign has been carried out on a SETI target star: the famous Gliese 581 red dwarf. However, after 8 hours of observing the star — thought to play host to six exoplanets, two of which are in the star's 'habitable zone' — no alien signals were detected. This result isn't surprising, as the likelihood of us stumbling across intelligent aliens living in the Gliese 581 system transmitting radio is extremely slim, but it does validate VLBI as a very exciting means of using the vast amount of exoplanetary data (coming from missions such as the Kepler space telescope) for 'directed SETI' projects."
Yes, they would want to contact us much in the same way we'd be insanely curious if any other creature on this planet demonstrated creative story-telling.
I'm sorry to poop on your post but that Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that inspired your reply is over 20 years old.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Not that magnetohydrodynamic drive exhaust is undetectable but from my understanding, the only way we'd ever see a "signature" is if the engine were pointing directly at us. Given our size, constant movement, and the minuscule amount of ions actually released the probability of ever detecting anything is probably infinitely close to zero.