It’s a question that has plagued mankind for centuries: is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? If you ask any white person with dreadlocks or my aunty who believes tarragon cures cancer, you’re almost guaranteed to be told that there is.
While we’ve had no definitive proof that aliens have ever visited us or are visiting us now, we’ve been working on trying to intercept some transmissions made by ET since the late 1800s, when Nikola Tesla himself suggested that a big ol’ version of his radio could be used to talk to whatever aliens were currently kicking around on Mars.
SETI is the collective modern efforts of various radiographers and tech nerds to find aliens, you might recognise them from the start of such films as ‘Independence Day‘ and ‘Contact‘, and that one episode of ‘The X-Files‘ in season 2 where Mulder actually sees a live alien for the first time (spoilers!!!).
They’ve found a bunch of things so far – but at this stage all of them have been weird natural space phenomena and none of them of have been aliens. They don’t have an explanation yet for their latest discovery though: a strong signal coming from a star 95 light years away from the Earth with the charming and memorable name HD164595.
The signal was detected by the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, Russia and, if it indeed comes from intelligent life, would indicate a civilisation likely much more advanced than our own, according to deep space expert Paul Gilster:
“Working out the strength of the signal, the researchers say that if it came from an isotropic beacon, it would be of a power possible only for a Kardashev Type II civilization.“If it were a narrow beam signal focused on our Solar System, it would be of a power available to a Kardashev Type I civilization.”
The Kardashev system is used to rank technology levels of civilisations, with scientists estimating humanity might work their way up to being a Type I sometime in the next 100 to 200 years.
Gilster was quick to say that there’s no evidence that the signal does come from intelligent life, but that it’s noteworthy enough that they’re going to be keeping a permanent eye (ear?) on it.
Calling it now: it’s definitely aliens and we’re all doomed.
Source: Yahoo.
