Astronomers have been curious to find another civilization in the Milky Way. In a new study, scientists discover repeat signals from the center of the Milky Way. Researchers have begun to wonder if other intelligent species are living in our home galaxy with us. The new research targets discovering extraterrestrial life by listening to radio pulses coming from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists discovered that narrow-frequency pulses naturally come into existence by stars identified as pulsars.
However, our civilization also uses these narrow-frequency pulses in our technologies like radar. Since these pulses are different from the background radio noise of space, scientists referred to them as an effective means of transmitting data across far distances. Astronomers have been listening to these types of pulses while searching for alien civilizations. A new study published on May 30 in The Astronomical Journal revealed that we may be heading closer to spotting another civilization anytime soon.
What Scientists Discovered in the new Study about Repeated Signals from the center of the Milky Way
The new study published on May 30 was conducted by a group of scientists led by Cornell University graduate student Akshay Suresh. Suresh has already developed software that helps scientists in detecting repetitive frequency patterns. Researchers already tested the software in previously discovered pulsars to ensure that it could spot narrow frequencies from long distances.
The software is powerful enough to detect frequency ranges that are extremely small at about a tenth of the width of frequencies generally in usage by FM radio stations. The researchers that participated in this study were able to observe data obtained from the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia with this fascinating means of detecting frequencies.
“Until now, radio SETI has primarily dedicated its efforts to the search for continuous signals,” study coauthor Vishal Gajjar of the SETI Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the search for intelligent life in the universe, said in a statement. “Our study sheds light on the remarkable energy efficiency of a train of pulses as a means of interstellar communication across vast distances. Notably, this study marks the first-ever comprehensive endeavor to conduct in-depth searches for these signals.”
Why researchers Marvel with this discovery
Scientists often listen to signals coming from the center of the Milky Way galaxy with the hope that they could detect a frequency from some of its massive stars and a lot of habitable exoplanets. During a recent study, astronomers observed repeated frequencies coming from our galactic center. These fascinating frequencies may be coming from another civilization.
Scientists are suggesting that if aliens are at the core of the Milky Way galaxy, they could possibly transmit signals to the rest of the galaxy if they desire to communicate with other civilizations within our home galaxy. If they are advanced enough, they could transmit powerful signals and travel to distant planets revealing the origin of the signal. Researchers are suggesting that Aliens could be revealing themselves using narrow bandwidths and repeated frequency patterns.
The study co-author Steve Croft, who is also a project scientist with the Breakthrough Listen Program revealed in a statement that the combination of narrow bandwidths and repeated patterns is highly unlikely to happen naturally, meaning that another civilization might be responsible for these repeated frequencies.
The researchers used an algorithm that can search across 1.5 million telescope data samples in 30 minutes to implement this fascinating method. Even though the scientists did not discover any signs of telltale during their first search, they strongly believed that the speed of the algorithm will surely boss searches in further research in the future.
“Breakthrough Listen captures huge volumes of data, and Akshay’s technique provides a new method to help us search that haystack for needles that could provide tantalizing evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life forms,” Croft said.
Conclusion
Scientists are curious to find another civilization in the Cosmos. The recently spotted repeated signals from the center of the Milky Way galaxy may be a great sign that we are not alone in the Universe. However, future observations will enable scientists to learn more about these signals and where exactly they are originating from. What do you think about this fascinating study?
