Astronomers Scan the Skies for Nanosecond Pulses of Light From Interstellar Civilizations universetoday storybywill
‘s primary mirror – have the highest sensitivity of any telescopes in the very-high-energy band, with a maximum sensitivity of 100 giga-electronvolts to 10 tera-electronvolts .These capabilities were tested as the Collaboration team searched through the Breakthrough Listen target catalog for signs of high-energy optical pulses. Said Foote:
“We began with the Breakthrough Listen target catalog released in 2017, then removed anything which was unsuited for VERITAS operation. This left us with around 506 possible targets, which were then ranked according to being close, dim, and other nice things – e.g., having exoplanets. This ranked list gave us a nice tool to select which ones to observe, as we just picked the highest-ranked ones which could be seen in a given month.
In addition, the Collaboration team examined VERITAS archival data going back to 2012. The team then calculated which targets from the Breakthrough Listen catalog were observed by VERITAS during the same period. Because they had limited computation time, they decided to spread the archival analysis across many different targets, analyzing only the first hour of quality data.
While their analysis did not find evidence of any nanosecond optical pulses, the study has provided an important proof-of-concept that will inform future searches. It has also established limits on the number of stars that could be hosting transmitting civilizations, helping narrow these searches and increasing the likelihood of future detections. Beyond that, said Foote, this study could have significant implications for existing gamma-ray observatories and planned ones.
“I think the biggest impact on the broader field is that this technosignature can be searched for by piggybacking off of existing gamma-ray observatories, including VERITAS, and ones which have yet to be built. This also goes the other way too, as observatories being purpose-built for this technosignature, like PANOSETI, can have some gamma-ray science piggyback off of it. This is a unique intersection between fields which hasn’t been greatly explored until now.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Astronomers find exoplanet twice the mass of Jupiter hiding in plain sightThe planet is only a few million years old and may be responsible for a spiral 'arm' in its surrounding protoplanetary disk.
Read more »
Buying Apple’s Vision Pro headset could require an appointment and a face scanYou’ll need $3,499 and a fit check for your face.
Read more »
Apple Vision Pro Sales to Reportedly Require an Appointment and Face ScanIf you want to buy a Vision Pro, you might need an appointment and a face scan.
Read more »
Astronomers surprised by a distant black hole roaring back to lifeThe distant object suddenly started feeding after a prolonged silence.
Read more »
Hungry black hole 'switches on' as astronomers watch in surpriseRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter sciencef1rst.
Read more »
Astronomers Map out the Radio Waves Coming From Large Satellite ConstellationsYou've heard that satellite constellations like Starlink are a problem for astronomers and their telescopes. Because the satellites are communicating with radio waves, they're also an issue for radio astronomers. A new study used the Low-Frequency Array to observe 68 Starlink satellites as they flew overhead. The telescopes could detect the 'unintended electromagnetic radiation' emanating from electronics onboard the Starlink satellites. These could impact radio observations, and unlike visible light, the glare isn't coming from reflected light but emissions from the satellites themselves.
Read more »