I just watched the movie 'Contact' (again). Do you think SETI will ever detect a signal we can understand?

Question

It's an awfully big universe.

Answer 1

Yes it is so big, and yet not.

Hopefully when that happens I can be as bald and disliked as Hadden, if that is what it takes to get a "room with a view"

Answer 2

Well probably not as it is - they only search a small part of the sky.

Even with the enormous size of the universe, only beings in nearby galaxies would have had time to transmit anything (presuming evolution like ours). Even at that, they may not have been around with the timing it took to hit us while we're watching.

Add to that, I imagine a signal from a distant planet. It would be so spread out by the time it got here it would be pretty weak or unlikely to hit us.

So I guess *because* it is such a big universe makes me think it is unlikely we'll see anything at SETI, even though I think it is likely there is other "life" out there.

Answer 3

Because of the distances involved, it's unlikely we would detect something unless it was specifically aimed at us (and then only if it was from a relatively nearby start system, unless they have a way to harness a lot more power to put into the transmission than we can.

Check out the seti@home project. Even if you don't want to use your computer to help with the search, their FAQ has a lot of good information.

Answer 4

Not from aliens. The distances make any meaningful communication impossible. Until SETI finds a way to tap into subspace or telepathy, it's just an exercise.

Answer 5

don,t know about SETI but in 1977 a radio telescope in Ohio detected the signal "WOW" from outer space , it is the strongest ever unidentified signal. it was never heard again.

Answer 6

Hmm, good question....

Assuming that a) we don't have the telepathy thing going on--and for some that is still a legit question--and that b) contact hasn't already been made and us humans are just being clueless and dense as usual...

I'd say our odds improve with every radio signal we bounce out there, either off of the upper atmosphere, or on rare occasion still, off of the *moon itself* (keyword search: "HAM operators", "moonbounce", this was recently addressed in Yahoo Answers itself).

Consider that we've been sending radio signals, out into space, since Marconi back at the tail end of the 1800s. Add to that our discovery of electricity and Morse Code (the telegraph) a few decades previously, and well, you know we *HAVE* the electro-magnetic trail of bread-crumbs out there....only big "if" is, can the signals make it out of the solar system, around and away from all those pesky solar and planetary magnetic fields?

And well....our planet is *always* moving at several *tens of thousands* of miles per hour in its orbit around the sun, at least. Combine that with the relatively HUGE size of our solar system and it is a "definite maybe" I'd say.

So what would the signal look like?

My humble half-educated guess is.....most alien species that are still *using* radio and electro-magnetic communication, either for themselves, or for our benefit for contact purposes, would likely be smart enough to know about the moonbounce...

*And* they'd be smart enough to know that as big as the universe is, you're going to need some *potent* method of boosting the signal to *get a message back into* our solar system.

So my guess is....the signal will likely be in some form of Morse Code, adapted for "first contact" purposes. Meaning it will likely be a form of *binary coding* our computers can understand, based on the one signal *anyone* with half a brain can recognize.

S.O.S. "...---..." Or was it "---...---"? *lol* But yeah, they'll end up using the "s" as a one, the "o" as a zero, and likely "moonbounce" their signal off of either a quasar or a nearby planet with a potent magnetic field, using the local magnetism as a *carrier wave* so that the only power they have to supply is enough to actually *put the signal* into the wave.

So yeah....SETI may well be looking in the wrong place in terms of looking at harmonics of *cosmic background* radiation. It may work for contact with the *really old* species, but *those* likely aren't *using* radio or E.M. signaling anymore.

A better bet might be to watch for harmonics of either our own planetary magnetic field, or those of another nearby planet with something stronger (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune). Our own solar magnetic field might be a candidate too if the thing weren't just so honking massive, you know? Not to mention so energetic on its own that it might well *drown out* any signal.

Hope this helps. :)

Answer 7

This might be wrong but i heard that they already did get a signal but it didn't last more than a few seconds and it wasn't long enough to find any kind of message, but it wasn't just random noise either.So it was swept under the rug so to speak.

Answer 8

We'll never prove that there is NO intelligent life out there. (I often wonder about Earth.) So, could it happen? Sure. Will it in our lifetime? Probably not.

Do we really want to? Depends. Will they be preditors or allies or lunch. Watch the old 'Twilight Zone' episode "To Serve Man". One of the best Serling did.

Answer 9

Hi Fresh!
I would hope they do and soon also. It might put a end to our petty squabbles and give us a bigger picture to focus on.( I think that they might have found a signal already)

Answer 10

If they do, it will be totally by accident, like it was in the movie.