Hey… We’re Over Here – Powerful Laser Could be Used as a Beacon to Attract Alien Attention to Earth

Posted by Guy Pirro 02/08/2019 06:48PM

Hey… We’re Over Here – Powerful Laser Could be Used as a Beacon to Attract Alien Attention to Earth

If extraterrestrial intelligence exists somewhere in our galaxy, a new MIT study proposes that laser technology on Earth could, in principle, be fashioned into something of a planetary porch light -- a beacon strong enough to attract attention from as far away as 20,000 light years. The findings suggest that if a high-powered 1 to 2 megawatt laser were focused through a massive 30 to 45 meter telescope and aimed out into space, the combination would produce a beam of infrared radiation strong enough to stand out from the sun’s energy. Such a signal could be detectable by alien astronomers performing a cursory survey of our section of the Milky Way -- especially if those astronomers live in nearby systems, such as around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth, or TRAPPIST-1, a star about 40 light years away that hosts seven exo-planets, three of which are potentially habitable.


Comments:

I'm not so sure contact is such a good idea. Here's what the late Stephen Hawking said:
"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."
Most successful species are aggressive ones. I think they should kEep their flashlight OFF and we already have enough radio noise and light pollution on earth anyway...

Rod:

You make a very good point -- Just because we CAN attract alien attention to Earth doesn't mean we SHOULD.

Guy Pirro

I think they ought to develop the technology to place their beacon on a probe and blast it out of the solar system before they activate it. Let the probe do the detecting and take its sweet time reporting back what it found...

Wellll, we kinda sorta do already have such "probes" sending out radio waves that any interstellar species with even just the level of knowledge we humans already possess would have no real problems tracing via those probes and their little gold discs right back to Earth! U No... Veeger! ... Voyager. (Pun intended) 1 and 2, still active at last estimates for at least another 5 years!! Radio wave transmissions while degrading somewhat do travel @ similar speeds to a laser beam of light. AND they have been at it for what now...41 some years, beyond the helosphere now for a few years, If I remember right Voyager 1 passed the mark in 2012, but just shooting from memory a quick Google would confirm or deny that particular year mark... but hey we've been there done that, and still doing it!

Yeah, I know about the voyagers. But I don't think we ought have a beacon conveniently located on our planet, either. The radio wave searches thus far have turned up zilch for any sort of a signal that can be confirmed as originating from an extraterrestrial source representing an intelligent biological entity so I'm not too concerned about our puny probes in the cosmos...

  • holydean [Taylor Moffitt of Holydean]
  • 02/12/2019 07:30PM
Ditto on: Here's what the late Stephen Hawking said:
"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

A homing beacon for ETs? No thank you! I would contribute money to the organization that would stop that from happening. That can only end in one of two ways: a) Best case scenario, waste of money. b) History repeats itself, a la Steven Hawking's analogy.
I agree 100%! No one should allow these fools to send out a huge beam to attract who knows what to our exact location. Wake up!!

I agree 100%! No one should allow these fools to send out a huge beam to attract who knows what to our exact location. Wake up!!