Detecting Alien Signals

I bet one day when we discover an Alien signal, that we will find that it has been there all along. I think we either lack the technology to detect it currently, or we are just not looking for the right thing. I know I've read SETI was talking about building optical recievers to see if maybe Aliens use lasers to communicate but never really saw anything major come out of that yet.

Perhaps they use gravity waves to communicate over long distances or some other exotic methods to communicate through space time.

What are some ways you can think of that they might use to communicate that we may be missing or not currently thinking about? Maybe if we share enough thoughts and ideas on the subject we can come up with something we had not thought of before.

Are you really sure it's a good idea to even try??
(that is a serious question)

but if we want to be noticed i'd say sending some warheads to say pluto,make a really big bang,and wait.

didn't seti set up something where the public could go online and help sort through all the data they have? I'm sure I had an account.

can't help much with link though as I'm on my phone.


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Originally posted by cjttatu
Are you really sure it's a good idea to even try??
(that is a serious question)

but if we want to be noticed i'd say sending some warheads to say pluto,make a really big bang,and wait.

I think its a good idea to try and listen if they are out there. I am not so sure it is a good idea for us to say hello!

Originally posted by fatpastyhead
didn't seti set up something where the public could go online and help sort through all the data they have? I'm sure I had an account.

can't help much with link though as I'm on my phone.

 

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Your probably thinking about Seti@home. Seti@home

I use Seti@home. My point of this thread however was to discuss alternative communication methods advanced Aliens may be using that we are not listening for.

Quantum string theory. When they use a very long string and two cups at each end.
If they were to have a two way conversation they would have to send the message through a worm hole that they created at both ends. They also might use a form of quantum entanglement with a receiver and transmitter entangled. Or they might send a message in a beam of neutrinos organized in a binary form back in time so at the speed of light it reaches the destination at the time it is sent. Neutrinos are very hard for us to detect because of their weak interaction to other matter so they might make it there without getting blocked out.

I'm being serious here but what about pointing a powerful laser at Gliese, there's a few planets in that system said to be in the habitable zone, if there's someone there maybe they'll see it. Now I know next to nothing about lasers so would a laser beam even go that far? If so how long would it take to get there, I guess it's the speed of light?

How about they dump something into their sun to change the spectral output on a scheduled pattern that couldn't be produced by nature.

Edit to add:
The benefits are that the signal would be very high powered and omnidirectional.

It may be as simple as de-orbiting a few choice asteroids in a sequence that creates a mathematically significant pattern.

Spectral analysis of stars is a huge component of astronomy that we employ on a regular basis. Detection of a pattern of subtle changes as a consequence could be presumed by other races.

We already have spacecraft that stare constantly at thousands of stars.

Originally posted by bigern
I'm being serious here but what about pointing a powerful laser at Gliese, there's a few planets in that system said to be in the habitable zone, if there's someone there maybe they'll see it. Now I know next to nothing about lasers so would a laser beam even go that far? If so how long would it take to get there, I guess it's the speed of light?

Its 22 light years away so It would take 44 years to send and recieve a response at the speed of light. I am thinking if they recieved our first transmissions that we might be get a response about now.

Originally posted by Xeven

Originally posted by cjttatu
Are you really sure it's a good idea to even try??
(that is a serious question)

but if we want to be noticed i'd say sending some warheads to say pluto,make a really big bang,and wait.

I think its a good idea to try and listen if they are out there. I am not so sure it is a good idea for us to say hello!

Hmm fair point,
i'm not techically minded you may have noticed
it's tricky,i mean there has to be infinate variables surely.

ETA i hate myself for thinking this,but channeling seems a logical choice,tech has too many wave lengths (doesn't it??)

They may employ the use of an Ansible. A theoretical machine capable of instantaneous or superluminal communication.

The device works under the principle that two identical particles thus entwined will interact with one another no matter the distance between them (essentially what you do to one particle will happen to the other). Hey presto we have a very low bit rate instantaneous form of communication.

yep I'm with you now. sorry I just scanned through your post(being lazy, long day)


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Originally posted by andy06shake
They may employ the use of an Ansible. A theoretical machine capable of instantaneous or superluminal communication.

The device works under the principle that two identical particles thus entwined will interact with one another no matter the distance between them (essentially what you do to one particle will happen to the other). Hey presto we have a very low bit rate instantaneous form of communication.

edit on 11-3-2013 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)

Wonder how we could detect such communication if at all possible? Seems you would have to be a part of the entanglement from the start to be able to recieve the change in particles. If they use this we may never know they are talking across the Universe.

reply to post by Xeven


Thats another side affect, there is no way to listen or monitor the communication unless you have an identical setup with an identical particle.

Not so good if you want to send an SOS signal i imagine.

reply to post by CraftBuilder


I like that idea. I was thinking something along the same line. I was thinking if they were advance they could change the plasma color around their star. If they send a message then why not use a code that life might understand. On and off binary might be confusing. They might use a sequence of four to make their code like DNA uses A,G,T,C. If so than changing the the plasma using four colors could send complex messages.
If life out there sends a message to other life then why not start by using the code of life?

I suppose we could set off a very large Nuke way out away from Earth where they might pick up the Gamma Rays. Not sure if it would look different from natural gamma rays though or be large enough to detect.

reply to post by andy06shake

They may employ the use of an Ansible. A theoretical machine capable of instantaneous or superluminal communication.

The ansible is a machine from science fiction, that name comes from Ursula Le Guin but the idea has been used for a while.

It's not theoretical, it's fictional. Such a device would violate causality. Theoretically, information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light.

reply to post by d8track



They might not even have to be that advanced. We ourselves are nearly at the point where we could de-orbit large asteroids into the sun in a sequence.

Its not a particularly efficient method of communication but it would get other civilizations aware that there was someone else out there and pointed in the right direction where other methods could be focused.

I believe another idea out there (as far as RF energy is concerned) is that signals are out there, but we're only listening to one channel, and may not see all of the message. In other words it may be a very large broad band that is sent, and you have to be listening to that entire broad band.

There is also the possibility that there are plenty of RF signals out there......but none of them have reached us yet.

reply to post by CraftBuilder


I think smoke signals worked great for many years but throwing rocks at the sun might not be that good. It might not be to good for the planets. You would need something very large for them to notice. Large rocks hit the sun all the time some of the message might be lost.