Astrobiologists from the University of California (USA) have discovered a way to “reach out” to alien civilizations.
The research team, led by Dr. Edward Schwieterman from the University of California, has identified 5 of the most recognizable and accurate signs to determine whether a planet has a civilization or not using available technology.
According to Sci-New, these 5 distinct signs are 5 groups of greenhouse gases: fluorinated versions of methane, ethane, and propane, along with gases made from nitrogen and fluorine or sulfur and fluorine.
Illustration of various technological signs we can search for on another planet, including artificial atmospheres – (Image: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE).
Dr. Schwieterman stated that the most important aspect is that these 5 groups of gases cannot naturally exist in high quantities. Therefore, if they are present at levels detectable by advanced observational tools, it must be extraterrestrial beings that created them.
The research team refers to these 5 groups of gases as “technological signatures.”
The five types of gases proposed by the authors are used on Earth in industrial applications such as computer chip manufacturing.
Furthermore, if this civilization is more advanced than ours, they may utilize these “deadly” substances to improve their global environment.
“They would be beneficial for a civilization trying to avert an impending ice age or to terraform an uninhabitable planet in their star system, much like humans have proposed for Mars,” Dr. Schwieterman explained.
For example, we might have a frozen, arid planet with no liquid water – one of the essential conditions for life.
We could inject sulfur hexafluoride, which has the ability to heat the planet 23,500 times more than carbon dioxide, making it warm enough for some ice to melt into liquid water.
Another advantage of the proposed gases is that they can last a very long time. Under Earth conditions, they can be preserved for up to 50,000 years.
Whether extraterrestrials inadvertently produce the aforementioned greenhouse gas groups through environmentally harmful industrial activities or intentionally harness them, it would be a sign that indicates they are present.
More importantly, the traces of these 5 groups of greenhouse gases can easily be detected in the spectrum with the “eye” of the James Webb Space Telescope, even if they exist in minimal amounts.
Some more advanced space observation tools that space agencies plan to launch in the future will certainly also be capable of identifying them.
The results were recently published in the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal, providing an intriguing filtering grid ready to be applied to re-screen over 5,500 exoplanets that humanity has discovered.
The majority of these exoplanets were identified by NASA’s TESS satellite, and many of them bear a striking resemblance to Earth, meaning they have a high chance of containing life.
