Finding a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization takes more than just pointing a telescope in the right direction. We may also need to listen at exactly the right time.
Scientists at the SETI Institute are trying a new approach to this challenge. They are combining astronomy and game theory to predict when another civilization might decide to send a message to Earth.
Using the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California, researchers have launched a multiyear search focused on a particular location in the sky known as the anti-solar point. Their approach is based on the idea that two civilizations, even without communicating beforehand, might independently identify the same time and place to establish contact.
A new paper, published in The Astronomical Journal and titled "A Large-Scale Technosignature Survey of the Anti-Solar Point with the Allen Telescope Array: Survey Design and Pilot Results," describes the campaign's strategy and presents findings from its first observations.
The pilot study did not find evidence of extraterrestrial technology, but it marked an important milestone: the first observational search of the anti-solar point, putting a decades-old scientific proposal to the test for the first time and establishing a foundation for a much larger survey.
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