The SETI Institute May Have Missed an Important Call from Aliens: It's All the Stars' Fault 0 7

Scientists from the SETI Institute, who are engaged in the search for radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligent life, believe that some such messages may simply be ignored. Therefore, if extraterrestrial civilizations have tried to contact us, scientists may have missed such an "interstellar phone call." Researchers concluded that the space weather created by stars can turn strong, pre-planned signals from aliens into weaker radio signals that are typically ignored. The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal, reports Focus citing Gizmodo.

Scientists suggested that natural astrophysical phenomena, including changes in plasma density in the solar wind and coronal mass ejections from the star, may distort potential radio signals sent by extraterrestrial civilizations from their planets.

Such signals may become too weak and have the wrong frequency that scientists search for extraterrestrial messages, and therefore they are ignored. Although in reality, these radio signals could be messages from extraterrestrial civilizations that have been altered by space weather.

To test their hypothesis, scientists used data on radio signals transmitted to Earth in the past by spacecraft at varying distances from the Sun. Researchers wanted to determine how solar activity and local space weather could have affected these signals.

Scientists found significant distortion of signals from spacecraft that were up to 6.26 million kilometers from the Sun. It turned out that the signals became weaker during solar storms when a lot of intense radiation is released into space and plasma ejections occur in the form of coronal mass ejections. It was found that the closer the spacecraft were to the Sun, the weaker their signal became, and the frequencies changed.

All this information about how radio signals change depending on the distance from the star and its activity can be used to adjust the strategy for searching for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Scientists say that the results of the study indicate how clear any extraterrestrial radio signal transmitted from a specific point in another star system may appear.

"By assessing how stellar activity can alter signals, we can develop searches that better match what actually reaches Earth, rather than just what was transmitted by potential aliens," the scientists say.