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Are We Being Watched? Tens of Other Worlds Could Spot the Earth (eurekalert.org)
A group of scientists from Queen's University Belfast and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany have turned exoplanet-hunting on its head, in a study that instead looks at how an alien observer might be able to detect Earth using our own methods. From a report: They find that at least nine exoplanets are ideally placed to observe transits of Earth, in a new work published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Thanks to facilities and missions such as SuperWASP and Kepler, we have now discovered thousands of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, worlds known as 'exoplanets.' The vast majority of these are found when the planets cross in front of their host stars in what are known as 'transits,' which allow astronomers to see light from the host star dim slightly at regular intervals every time the planet passes between us and the distant star. In the new study, the authors reverse this concept and ask, "How would an alien observer see the Solar System?" They identified parts of the distant sky from where various planets in our Solar System could be seen to pass in front of the Sun - so-called 'transit zones' -- concluding that the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are actually much more likely to be spotted than the more distant 'Jovian' planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), despite their much larger size. To look for worlds where civilisations would have the best chance of spotting our Solar System, the astronomers looked for parts of the sky from which more than one planet could be seen crossing the face of the Sun. They found that three planets at most could be observed from anywhere outside of the Solar System, and that not all combinations of three planets are possible.
No, but our ancestors might be.
The majority of life has two suns not one.
Our solar system is the anomaly.
The fallacy is thinking that our system is the standard. It isn't -- it is the exception -- we need to stop pretending the human perspective is the only one that matters, or is even right.
--
Atheist, noun, a blind man arguing with the rest of the world that color doesn't exist.
Is it because they do not support life?
That their live is not advanced enough?
That they are trying to contact us, but we cannot detect their message.
That it is a quality of advanced civilisations that they ignore each other (or defer contact until some defined "level" of civilisation has been reached).
or are they on their way, right now.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
My guess 100 % by the number of suns/exoplanets.
Yet, the time factor plays a big role - billions of suns ? light years apart, mutual observations are delayed, are they still valid? Alpha Centauri for sure, any other's?
OK, technically it was Futurama, but close enough.
We have come from building Stonehenge to identifying exoplanets in an eye blink of time in the history of the universe. To speculate on aliens using the same techniques that we have come up with in our current lifetime is kind of silly. Either they aren't looking for exoplanets at all, or they've developed much more accurate measures to detect other worlds than solar transits. (Or perhaps "they" don't exist at all.)
They are looking for worlds that could see us using our current technology. Its an interesting study, but 100 years ago we would have tried (and failed) with a very different technique (direct telescopic examination). 100 years from now we may be using a completely different technology (solar system sized interferometers?, Some new trick to drastically reduce stray light in an image? X-ray telescopes? I have no idea) )
We know nothing about alien technology (if it even exists). It may have followed similar paths to ours, but it might be wildly different.
Why this puff piece? I would hope there was more meat to the original paper.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I think sagan proved theres life on earth in the 90s. Im not joking either. Nature paper.
The wave front of the first broadcast of Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen" is now 54 light years from Earth. The alien extermination fleet is probably already on its way.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Time is indeed an important factor. For one, the universe is only 13 billion years old; a baby by cosmological time scales. Earth could be the first, or one of the first, worlds where life has arisen. We might actually be all alone for now.
Or if the universe is a simulation, then Earth might be the only place that either exists or has life coded into the sim.
Keep looking. Keep watching the skies"........The Thing from another World
Considering that we detect planets that transit the parent star, and that we've detected thousands of them, AND that such an occultation is visible ONLY when the Earth is precisely on the plane of that system's ecliptic ... the only viable conclusion must be that planets around other star systems are LITERALLY as "common as dirt". It's likely that there are planets around MOST stars.
All they have to do is log onto Google Maps.
. . .we're reality Three-V.
". . . as J'mm tests the native female with the Anal Probe, consider how Mutual of Andromeda protects your homeworld from pesky alien intrusions. . . "
- Mrrl'nn Prk'nz, host of "Mutual of Andromeda's 'Wild Planet'"
Eventually people get fed up with exciting headlines with no actual news associated with them. So it's a self-defeating game they are playing. Silly.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Remember this. The best way to determine whether or not something exists physically is to ask the question that Immanuel Kant asked. If it exists, where is it? And what is it made of?
Now you know why distance does not exist.
No, I don't.
It follows from your quote that distance is not an object, not material.
The fact that the quote mentions "where" already infers that location is a conceptual thing.
Distance is defined by 2 locations.
No need to try to be philosophical about it.
aRTee
They probably have our personal details, credit cards, etc as well. Reading the news today, everyone else sems to.
With an X light year delay, they won't be watching me now for X more years.
One day, in the not too distant future, physicists will wake up from their self-imposed stupor and realize that distance is an illusion of the mind. It does not exist. We will develop technologies that will allow us to travel instantly from anywhere to anywhere. Of course, the aliens, if they exist, have figured this out eons ago and regularly visit us without our knowledge. :-)
Lead the way.
There are (at least) two other conclusions from the same data:
1) Those monuments were far easier to build than you think; and
2) There have been previous civilizations on Earth that rose above sticks and stones (although the evidence is against them having made it as far as we did - so far).
I like how you insult physicists when you haven't done a thing. Do you even understand the subject matter? Do you have a degree?
Talk about entitlement. Just like all millennials.
The number of ray guns and nuclear reactors found in the ruins of ancient cities is truly proof that aliens were providing the technology.
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Are allies astronomer watching you have sex?
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Dinosaurs lived between 230 and 65 million years ago, in a time known as the Mesozoic Era. This was many millions of years before the first modern humans. So did most of the other civilizations across the Universe. Most of them possibly extinct... by killer robots!
The number of ray guns and nuclear reactors found in the ruins of ancient cities is truly proof that aliens were providing the technology.
Maybe they made compostable weapons to keep the galaxy from being cluttered up with detritus from their endless wars. They used a lot of iridium in 'em.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We had better keep an eye on them and make sure they don't know we are here until they evolve.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
There is no way we are being watched because any alien species watching us would have killed us with fire by now.