In this universe, is there any civilization like or higher than human beings? Or, even if there are non-intelligent beings.
Astronomer Frank Drake once proposed an equation that calculates the number of extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations that may be in contact with us, , called Drake Equation , and according to the estimates of Drake’s equation, there may be tens of thousands of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy alone.
But if so, why have they never touched humans or visited the earth? Someone might say that the distance between galaxies is too far, which makes it impossible for one civilization to break the barriers of distance to reach another civilization, but this is only limited to our understanding under the technological background that we can reach today, just like hundreds of years. It was impossible for humans in the past to think that today's humans can reach the other side of the earth in more than ten hours, or even leave the earth and land on the moon.
Is it possible that the Milky Way galaxy, which has formed 10 billion years ago, has not formed a technologically advanced super civilization?
There are also some conspiracy theories that believe that humans have already been in secret contact with alien civilizations. For example, the famous area 51 has evidence of alien existence. Human beings rely on the professors of alien civilizations,Science and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds in a hundred years, and in exchange, mankind has signed an invisible secret treaty with aliens.
There is another possibility that there are no aliens in this universe, and humans are unique, but if compared to the existence of alien life, if finally One day, human beings finally discover that there is no alien civilization in the entire universe. Human beings are the only life in this universe, or the alien civilization is also human. That is horror.
So today, let’s put aside these two statements and take a look at the closest human beings have discovered an extraterrestrial civilization, a "greeting message" from 4.2 light years away.
The mysterious electrical signal from the earth’s neighbors
We all know that when our astronauts leave the atmosphere and enter the universe, they communicate with the earth through radio waves , Load the information that needs to be sent on the radio wave and send it out. When the signal comes to the receiving end on the earth, the electromagnetic field change caused by the electric wave will cause the current change in the conductor, and then the information can be extracted from the current change come out.
So if humans want to send information to other civilizations that may exist in the universe, or they want to send information to humans, they can only use radio waves. Send your own information, if the other party captures this information, then it may be able to decipher the content of the information,And know the direction from which the information is sent.
Humans have done such a thing before.
In 1974, scientists used Arecibo radio telescope to send a " Arecibo information" to the globular star cluster M13, which is 25,000 light-years away from the Earth. The position of the solar system and the information about the earth and human beings, of course, is still early to reach M13, but if this information is captured by other alien civilizations in the middle, then they will know the basic information of the solar system, the earth and humans.
Similar to "Arecibo Information", there are also that is about to leave the solar system and human information on the Earth Traveler 1. Golden plate.
Many people once thought that it would be a very stupid act to expose the position of the earth in the universe, because we don't know what will capture them.
But in fact, humans have not only sent out signals, but also received a lot of radio wave information from the universe. The most recent one was in October 2020.
Scientists who broke through the listening project captured a radio signal from the neighboring star 4.2 light-years away from the earth.
What is a breakthrough listening project?
breakthrough listening project, is a large-scale alien intelligent life search operation initiated by the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner fully funded by astronomer Stephen Hawking Using the world's most powerful telescope to "listen" and search the universe to search for signals from about 1 million stars, in order to find evidence of the existence of intelligent alien life.
So, in June 2020, the researchers of the "Breakthrough Listening Project" initially used the Australian Parkes radio telescope to observe the Earth. Are there signs of flares on Proxima light years away? We are trying to study how the flares affect Proxima’s planets.
Moreover, these observational data are also used to find any signals that may be sent by extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI).
When the project researchers began to routinely screen the data in late October 2020, they stumbled upon a strange mysterious radio signal- BLC1 _strong7 So named in the published paper).
This signal is very similar to the "WOW" signal that was captured in 1977 from the solar system 200 light years away.
Is the signal sent by an alien civilization?
Then, the captured signal must prove that it was sent by an alien? Could not be emitted by celestial bodies? For example, pulsar , magnetar , black hole, supernova ? It’s really impossible, because if it is emitted by a celestial body, such as a superstar explosion, the signal generated will not be concentrated on one frequency, but will have a wide range on the spectrum, and what was captured this time is as well The signals captured in 1977 were all single-frequency, narrow-band radio signals, which could only be sent by man-made or man-made equipment, such as the area where satellites or spacecraft were launched. However, humans do not have a spacecraft. The instrument has reached Proxima Centauri, which is 4.6 light-years away from us.
So, perhaps, it was sent out by alien civilizations. They may also be like humans, looking for other civilizations in the universe. Signal such a thing.
and,Compared with humans’ recent several times, such as the WOW signal we just mentioned, and the five-hour strong radio wave received in 2017, there is also the rumors of distress 50,000 light-years away that are not known true or false. , This time is most likely to prove the existence of alien civilization.
The first is because, compared to the previous distance of hundreds of light years or even tens of thousands of light years, the signal discovered this time comes from Proxima Centauri, which is 4.6 light years away from the earth. More recently, even if scientists try to reply, if there are intelligent life like us, and the signal is indeed sent by them, then the two parties can really confirm the existence of each other. At least, maybe in our lifetime. You can really know that alien civilization exists, just 4.6 light years away, without having to wait for hundreds of thousands of years to reply to a message.
The second reason is that scientists actually discovered as early as 2016 that Proxima has a terrestrial planet that is 17% larger than the super-Earth , which is called super-Earth Or " Proxima b (Proxima b)", its revolution period is 11.2 days, and the surface temperature is between -50 and -30 degrees Celsius. If the planet has an atmosphere, water can remain in a liquid state under a certain pressure. Above the surface, then the life forms we know are likely to be born here.
Therefore, on the basis of the original discovery of this terrestrial planet, plus the radio signal received from here this time, it makes scientists believe that this planet is very There may be an intelligent civilization similar to ours.
However,Some people have also raised objections. Although there is no way to explain whether the received signal was sent by the civilization there, the research on Proxima Centauri shows that the situation of this super-Earth is not optimistic because of its star Proxima Centauri. It is an active red dwarf star with a diameter of only 15% of the sun and a surface temperature of 3000K, which is only half of our sun. And in 2016 and 2019, scientists have observed strong high-energy flares from Proxima Centauri. The energy from the flares is fatal to planets that are closer.
And this super-Earth is actually very close to the star, so it is impossible for life to exist, because it can't withstand the super-energy radiation erupted by stellar flares, so Proxima B can be called at best: super Mars is simply not as livable as the earth.
Of course, unless their technology is developed to protect themselves.
So the dispute between the two sides has not yet reached a definite result. There may be life in the habitable zone plus the received radio signals. This does not prove that it does exist, unless we try Reply to it to confirm whether this signal was sent by the intelligent civilization there.
However, no one knows whether the other party is a robber with a gun. We can substitute for a fantasy. If human beings discover a civilization that is weaker than themselves on a planet that can be reached within their own power, What will happen? Friendly exchanges help them upgrade their technology, or ruthlessly plunder their resources and enslave them?
welcome to discuss in the comment section,Okay, that's it for this episode. See you next time.
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