Scientists send radio greetings to nearby star
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There are many controversies in science, especially where science and the public good overlap. Environmental concerns, energy, and fights over what should and should not be included in publicly funded science classes just to name a few. One of the more obscurScientists send radio greetings to nearby star
There are many controversies in science, especially where science and the public good overlap. Environmental concerns, energy, and fights over what should and should not be included in publicly funded science classes just to name a few. One of the more obscure debates that’s been simmering for decades concerns the Search for Extraterrestrial Life or SETI. For the most part, SETI has been a program of passive listening. Radio dishes pointing patiently at the sky straining for some sign of alien radio traffic. But there are those who argue we should be more proactive about it and beam out powerful interstellar radio messages intended for alien consumption. For those wanting to understand the back-story, David Grinspoon’s book Earth in Human Hands does a bang-up job. The short version: the issue has boiled over several times in recent decades. And it may be about to boil over again: Last month, a team of artists and scientists beamed out a message to exoplanet GJ 273 in hopes of interacting with intelligent alien life on the planet. Evidently, the team transmitted the message to GJ 273 over a span of three days and included math tutorials, 33 musical compositions, technology, and instructions on how the recipient may respond. The star designated GJ 273 is better known to astronomers as Luyten’s, named after a key astronomer who found lots of faint red dwarfs. GJ 273 is nearby in cosmic terms, about 12 light-years away from our sun, and it’s one of the largest red dwarfs possible. Meaning if it were even a little bit more massive, the star’s internal dynamics and external characteristics would shift dramatically due to a tipping point buried down in the weeds of advanced astrophysics. The traditional SETI program is a community and effort centered on detecting alien radio transmissions by listening. Its controversial sibling, Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence or METI, takes it one step farther and sends messages specifically configured for aliens to detect and, hopefully, understand. This is a controversial practice. Jump below and we’ll give you the nickel tour on all that and more. Read more