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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Vishwam Sankaran

Study suggests nearby alien civilisations are highly improbable

  • A new study suggests that if advanced alien civilisations exist within a few hundred to a thousand light-years of Earth, an "implausibly large" number of their signals would have already passed by unnoticed.
  • Astronomers have searched for signs of extraterrestrial technology for decades, scanning the Milky Way for various technosignatures, but have yet to confirm any detections.
  • The research utilised a computer model to simulate hypothetical alien civilisations sending signals, estimating how many might have reached Earth and the realistic detection range of current or future instruments. bulle
  • The findings challenge the idea that past alien signals might have gone undetected simply due to weak instruments, indicating that such civilisations in our immediate cosmic neighbourhood are highly improbable.
  • Scientists conclude that if advanced alien civilisations do exist and have contacted Earth, they are likely rare and much more distant, with future detection efforts needing to extend over several thousand light-years.

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