Re:Radio SETI Observations of the Anomalous Star KIC 8462852
by TheOtherHobbes on Friday November 06, 2015 @01:07PM
(#10520879)
Basically nothing detected between 1GHz and 10GHz permanently pointing right at us, and no evidence of gigantic energy output during the very short analysis windows for each frequency bin.
Considering that most of the RF output of the Earth has much lower frequencies, and we almost never try to beam stuff at stars, and a lot of the spectrum is lost in local noise, and this search would miss very intermittent energy output, and there's no reason to assume that alien civs are going to be microwaving their neighbourhood, it's not hugely conclusive.
From a common sense POV, the kind of power spillage this paper talks about would be instantly fatal to almost anything biological around it without very dense shielding. So while it's unlikely there's no one waving at us, the jury is still out on whether or not there's anything alien going on out there. (Remember - a survey this short would almost certainly have missed the original light curve variations.)
I understand there's still a laser SETI search happening in South America. But really, it's probably more useful to try to get some spectral data about the light curve dips - and that's going to happen sooner or later anyway.
Considering that most of the RF output of the Earth has much lower frequencies, and we almost never try to beam stuff at stars, and a lot of the spectrum is lost in local noise, and this search would miss very intermittent energy output, and there's no reason to assume that alien civs are going to be microwaving their neighbourhood, it's not hugely conclusive.
From a common sense POV, the kind of power spillage this paper talks about would be instantly fatal to almost anything biological around it without very dense shielding. So while it's unlikely there's no one waving at us, the jury is still out on whether or not there's anything alien going on out there. (Remember - a survey this short would almost certainly have missed the original light curve variations.)
I understand there's still a laser SETI search happening in South America. But really, it's probably more useful to try to get some spectral data about the light curve dips - and that's going to happen sooner or later anyway.