PSU: No Obvious Advanced Civilizations Beyond Earth
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:42 pm
Search for Advanced Civilizations beyond Earth Finds Nothing Obvious in 100,000 Galaxies
Penn State University | Eberly College of Science | 2015 Apr 15
The Ĝ Infrared Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies.
Penn State University | Eberly College of Science | 2015 Apr 15
After searching 100,000 galaxies for signs of highly advanced extraterrestrial life, a team of scientists using observations from NASA's WISE orbiting observatory has found no evidence of advanced civilizations in them. "The idea behind our research is that, if an entire galaxy had been colonized by an advanced spacefaring civilization, the energy produced by that civilization's technologies would be detectable in mid-infrared wavelengths -- exactly the radiation that the WISE satellite was designed to detect for other astronomical purposes," said Jason T. Wright, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds at Penn State University, who conceived of and initiated the research. ...
- A false-color image of the mid-infrared nebula surrounding the nearby star 48 Librae. This nebula was discovered in the course of the G-HAT survey using NASA's WISE space telescope. The nebula is invisible in most kinds of light, including visible light. (Credit: Roger Griffth (Penn State) / IPAC (NASA/JPL-Caltech))
"Whether an advanced spacefaring civilization uses the large amounts of energy from its galaxy's stars to power computers, space flight, communication, or something we can't yet imagine, fundamental thermodynamics tells us that this energy must be radiated away as heat in the mid-infrared wavelengths," Wright said. "This same basic physics causes your computer to radiate heat while it is turned on."
Theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson proposed in the 1960s that advanced alien civilizations beyond Earth could be detected by the telltale evidence of their mid-infrared emissions. It was not until space-based telescopes like the WISE satellite that it became possible to make sensitive measurements of this radiation emitted by objects in space.
Roger Griffith, a postbaccalaureate researcher at Penn State and the lead author of the paper, scoured almost the entire catalog of the WISE satellite's detections -- nearly 100 million entries -- for objects consistent with galaxies emitting too much mid-infrared radiation. He then individually examined and categorized around 100,000 of the most promising galaxy images. Wright reports, "We found about 50 galaxies that have unusually high levels of mid-infrared radiation. Our follow-up studies of those galaxies may reveal if the origin of their radiation results from natural astronomical processes, or if it could indicate the presence of a highly advanced civilization." ...
The Ĝ Infrared Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies.
- Background and Justification - J.T. Wright, B. Mullan, S. Sigurðsson, M.S. Povich
- Astrophysical Journal 792(1) 26 (2014 Sep 01) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/26
arXiv.org > physics > arXiv:1408.1133 > 05 Aug 2014
- Astrophysical Journal 792(1) 26 (2014 Sep 01) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/26
- Framework, Strategy, and First Result - J.T. Wright, R.L. Griffith, S. Sigurðsson, M.S. Povich, B. Mullan
- Astrophysical Journal 792(1) 27 (2014 Sep 01) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/27
arXiv.org > physics > arXiv:1408.1134 > 05 Aug 2014
- Astrophysical Journal 792(1) 27 (2014 Sep 01) DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/27
- The Reddest Extended Sources in WISE - R.L. Griffith, J.T. Wright, J. Maldonado, M.S. Povich, S. Sigurðsson, B. Mullan
- Astrophysical Journal Supplement 217(2) 25 (2015 Apr 15) DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/217/2/25
arXiv.org > physics > arXiv:1504.03418 > 14 Apr 2015 (v1), 15 Apr 2015 (v2)
- Astrophysical Journal Supplement 217(2) 25 (2015 Apr 15) DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/217/2/25