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Massive Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life Completed: What Astronomers Found in Search of 10 Million Star Systems for Alien Technology

Link: https://scitechdaily.com/massive-hunt-for-extraterrestrial-life-completed-what-astronomers-found-in-search-of-10-million-star-systems-for-alien-technology/

A radio telescope in outback Western Australia has completed the deepest and broadest search at low frequencies for alien technologies, scanning a patch of sky known to include at least 10 million stars.

Astronomers used the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope to explore hundreds of times more broadly than any previous search for extraterrestrial life.

The study, published this month in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, observed the sky around the Vela constellation. But in this part of the Universe at least, it appears other civilizations are elusive, if they exist.

The research was conducted by CSIRO astronomer Dr. Chenoa Tremblay and Professor Steven Tingay, from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

Dr. Tremblay said the telescope was searching for powerful radio emissions at frequencies similar to FM radio frequencies, which could indicate the presence of an intelligent source.

These possible emissions are known as ‘technosignatures.’

“The MWA is a unique telescope, with an extraordinarily wide field-of-view that allows us to observe millions of stars simultaneously,” she said.

“We observed the sky around the constellation of Vela for 17 hours, looking more than 100 times broader and deeper than ever before.

“With this dataset, we found no technosignatures—no sign of intelligent life.”

“Since we can’t really assume how possible alien civilizations might utilize technology, we need to search in many different ways. Using radio telescopes, we can explore an eight-dimensional search space.

“Although there is a long way to go in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, telescopes such as the MWA will continue to push the limits—we have to keep looking.”

Russia claims autonomy on Venus days after signs of alien life discovered

Link: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-trends/russia-claims-autonomy-on-venus-days-after-signs-of-alien-life-discovered-5860441.html

Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, revealed that Russia has plans to send its own mission to Venus in addition to an already-proposed joint venture with the United States called 'Venera-D'

Days after scientists found that there may potentially be aliens on Earth's celestial neighbour Venus, Russia's government space agency has claimed it as a 'Russian planet'.

"We think that Venus is a Russian planet, so we shouldn’t lag behind. Projects for Venus missions are included in the united government programme of Russia’s space exploration for 2021 to 2030," he said.

An official release Roscosmos added, "The USSR was the only country to conduct regular explorations of Venus using on-planet stations. The first ever soft landing on another planet’s surface in the Solar system was performed in 1970 by the Venera-7 descent module. Several orbital missions and landings provided detailed data on the Venerian climate, soil and atmosphere composition. The Soviet Venera-13 spacecraft still holds the record as the longest active spacecraft on Venus remaining operational for 127 minutes."

On September 15, astronomers found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighbouring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet.

Several outside experts — and the study authors themselves — agreed this is tantalising but said it is far from the first proof of life on another planet.

On Earth, there are only two ways phosphine can be formed, study authors said. One is in an industrial process. The gas was...