Would Aliens Scanning Their Skies, Searching For Life On Other Planets, Easily Find Our Transmissions?

[sandyRoe]

Do we beam like a lighthouse across the empty infinity of space?

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/stephen-hawking-launches-dollar100m-search-for-alien-life-beyond-solar-system/ar-AAdePAE

[bibblebub]

Radio transmission have been made for about 120 years so any recipient of those signals would have to be within 120 lightyears of Earth. There are about 15000 stars within that distance and the chances of life starting on any planets orbiting those stars (and they'd need to be a sufficiently advanced civilisation) is minimal.

[Togo]

I am sure they could not miss the junk we are sending out. We must echo like a ball of interference polluting the cosmos to them. They quite sensibly
ignore us as the noisy neighbours.

[sandyRoe]

I sometimes think the cosmos is full of alien radio traffic. They've somehow excluded us but on this one occasion they allowed the screen to drop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal

[Chipchopper]

If the universe is infinite, then surely the possibilities for extraterrestrial life must have endless possibilities.
Good on Stephen Hawking for having the guts to launch this search!

[jim360]

I'm not sure, because one also has to take into account the quality of radio signals, losses of power due to atmosphere etc, power loss over distance. The radio noise from Earth currently is probably not much more than a whisper on the scale of the cosmos, drowned out by more powerful, natural sources.

Or not. I'd have to do some reading into this, but my suspicion is that we're closer to a dim candle than a lighthouse.

[Clanad]

Granted, it has nothing to do with this discussion, but... pedantically, the universe is not infinite. We know it had a begining hence, non-infinitum ...

[naomi24]

The last I heard from Stephen Hawking on the subject, although he thought alien life exists he also thought that finding it would not be a good idea.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/apr/30/stephen-hawking-right-aliens

However, I'm very pleased he's changed his mind .... but I think the search should start right here on earth.

(sandyRoe, this would have been better placed in 'Science' - it wouldn't disappear from there as quickly as it will from here. Any chance of getting it moved?).

[EDDIE51]

I think there are countless other civilizations 'out there' but as the nearest stars with a possibility of inhabitable Planets are at least 400 light years away, how can we ever communicate with them?
We could send a message saying 'hello anyone there' but the reply would be at least 800 years later.

[naomi24]

.... additionally, I don't think aliens would depend upon radio signals in their search for life on other planets. I've no doubt they, like us, are able to distinguish planets that are potentially capable of supporting life.

[naomi24]

Eddie, our nearest neighbour with planets thought to be potentially capable of supporting life is approximately 4 light years away - not 400.


http://www.universetoday.com/108865/high-potential-for-life-circling-alpha-centauri-b-our-nearest-neighbor/

[ukbod2015]

I am with Togo all the row we put out any self respecting alien would drive right by the weird green ball.

[douglas9401]

If they can pick up the signals that may explain why they're so secretive.

Would you travel to a place that seems to be in constant turmoil with atrocities heaped on each other daily?

[sandyRoe]

I've asked that it be moved

[jim360]

Thanks for the link, Naomi -- I had thought that it was a lot closer than Eddie's 400 light-years, but wasn't aware that it might even be as close as possible! 4.3 light-years still a huge distance to travel, and the article suggests there's still some dispute, but even so the idea that extraterrestrial life may be that close has to be considered seriously cool.

Not quite sure what you mean about "starting right here on Earth", although perhaps it's better not to ask... certainly there's plenty of cool stuff about life on Earth still to learn.

[mibn2cweus]

//Not quite sure what you mean about "starting right here on Earth", although perhaps it's better not to ask... certainly there's plenty of cool stuff about life on Earth still to learn.//

There's some mighty suspicious neighbours living just down the street from me . . . at least they've given me some very peculiar looks. :o/

[EDDIE51]

That has not even been identified as having planets yet. I said 400LY as I remember that figure from somewhere as a likely distance to habitable planets. Let's say 50LY away still a l00 years to say 'are you there?' and get a reply.It was the time scale I was trying to illustrate.

[jim360]

100 years after trying to contact an alien world, Earth receives the following:

"I'm sorry, we're away from the office at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone."

[Bazile]

There is life out there - beleive me - i encounter many on my missions

[jim360]

I was going to say "ah, but is it life as we know it?" -- but wrong missions...

[EDDIE51]

List of potentially habitable planets here with distance , nearest 11 LY out to 2500LY.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_potentially_habitable_exoplanets