Mathematics may be considered a universal constant — and surefire way to communicate with extraterrestrials — but there's no guarantee that the next spacefaring civilization we come in contact with will understand the universe the same way we do. How are we supposed to explain our base 10 counting system to an alien species that may have never evolved appendages?
We scientists tend to assume that aliens will also be scientists and mathematicians; indeed, more advanced and skillful than we are ourselves. Otherwise, how could they build a spaceship to visit us, or radio telescopes to send messages to us? Popular science fiction would seem to concur, although all too often those alien scientists are performing experiments on hapless humans rather than benevolently sharing their wealth of knowledge with us.
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How to Photograph a (Possible) Alien Artifact - Scientific American
It is often said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In my case, a picture is worth 66,000 words, the length of my new book, Extraterrestrial . The picture, in this case, doesn’t exist—an image of the first interstellar object, ‘ Oumuamua. It could have distinguished between ‘ Oumuamua being a natural rock or an artificial object manufactured by an extraterrestrial civilization.
But in the future, we might be able snap such a picture of another interstellar visitor. When I find a single ant while surveying a small portion of my kitchen, I get alarmed because it implies that there must be many more ants out there. The Pan-STARRS telescope discovered ‘Oumuamua while surveying the sky for only few years. It is therefore likely to find another object of its type every few years. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time ( LSST ) on the Vera C.
Navajo Goes Extraterrestrial - Language Magazine
The first scientific focus of NASA's Perseverance rover is a rock named "Máaz" – the Navajo word for "Mars." The rover's team, in collaboration with the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, has been naming features of scientific interest with words in the Navajo language.
Surface missions assign nicknames to landmarks to provide the mission's team members, which number in the thousands, a common way to refer to rocks, soils, and other geologic features of interest. Previous rover teams have named features after regions of geologic interest on Earth as well as people and places related to expeditions. Although the International Astronomical Union designates official names for planetary features, these informal names are used as reference points by the team.
Avi Loeb And The Search For Extraterrestrials | RadioWest
Dr. Jason Wright | @Astro_Wright Associate professor of astronomy and astrophysic at Pennsylvania State University. The SETI Institute awarded Jason Wright the Drake Award in 2019.
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Meet the Unsung Heroes behind Humanity's Improbable Journey to an Alien Ocean - Scientific
First off, I want to commend you: I’ve followed this topic for years, but I still learned an enormous amount by reading your book. By focusing on the people and the politics behind Europa Clipper, you’ve revealed the many other dimensions outside of science that must come together to make interplanetary exploration happen. I think there’s an enduring value to your work here, in a historical sense, that goes beyond just telling a good story.
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You’re welcome! What I’m getting at is that one could say The Mission is not really about going to Europa at all because you’ve written and published it well before the spacecraft even reaches the launchpad. What would you say it’s about?
Signal detected: Are we alone in the endless abyss of space?
We collect sounds from space all the time in the form of radio waves. For example, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, Voyager-1, sent back some haunting signals as it crossed from our sun's solar system out into interstellar space. But those same electronic ears built to listen for human-made signals, might someday hear sounds sent by someone else.
On April 29, 2019, the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia was pointed at the star closest to our own sun, Proxima Centauri, when it picked up a strange signal . It was a pure tone at 982.02 MHz. We know there's a planet orbiting that star. Might aliens on that planet have sent the signal? How would we know?
NASA: NASA go in search of extraterrestrial intelligence with Spain's help | Marca
The project was described in an article published in Acta Astronautica, which proposes means of identifying extraterrestrial civilisations.
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Plummeting space junk lights up the sky | The Daily World
Debris from a rocket provided quite a light show over Western Washington on Thursday night, including the Twin Harbors. The fiery ball burst into multiple streaks of orange and red with white explosions at times, prompting social media speculation that ranged from failed extraterrestrial visitation to a meteor.
The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver reported that a SpaceX rocket booster falling out of orbit created the spectacular display. A second stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had failed to make its deorbit burn earlier this month and burned up in the atmosphere at about 9 p.m., according to reports.
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