Search for high-proper motion objects with infrared excess by Massimo Teodorani
The hypothetic possibility of migration inside the galaxy and that some particularly advanced ( Type II) civilizations are able to build huge “arks” in order to use them both as stable habitats and as transfer interstellar vehicles has been ventured by several scholars in the last 30 years [1]. It is quite logical to hypothesize that such civilizations are able to predict with much more accuracy than us the approximate date of the onset of the giant phase of their mother star, in order to be able to build in useful time large-dimension mobile colonies and/or smaller spacecrafts containing aboard samples of DNA and other cryogenically maintained biological material to be activated at a later phase. If technologically-driven migration is a sufficiently frequent process in our galaxy and if it is operational since a long time compared to the age of the galaxy, the possibility that some of such arks or probes have reached the Solar System might be non-zero [2]. Such objects are expected to be characterized by a high angular velocity and – exactly like Dyson Spheres – a possibly strong infrared emission due to energy loss from their power supply system. A minority of the various unrepeated radio signals that have been recorded so far by SETI observations might be due to a source of non-intentional microwave emission that is occasionally captured by the antenna lobe. It is possible to elaborate a pragmatic strategy that is able to permit radio SETI researchers to promptly search for the suspected signal by pointing the antenna to gradually larger concentric circles on the celestial sphere, in order to attempt to receive the signal again and then to be able to determine the orbit of the transient radio source, which then can be accurately tracked. Evidently if this happens the source can then be also accurately measured using infrared space telescopes and X-ray and/or Gamma-ray space telescopes in order to verify if the source is able to produce occasional outburst of energy too. All of this research is within the effective capability of current monitoring technology.
REFERENCES
1. Bainbridge, W. S. (1984). “Computer simulation of cultural drift: limitations on interstellar civilization”. J. Brit. Interplanetary Soc., n. 37, pp. 420-429.
2. Teodorani M. (2006). ”An Alternative Method for the Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life: “The Local SETI” “. In: J. Seckbach (ed.) Book: Life as We Know It, Springer, COLE Books, Vol. 10, pp. 487-503.
.
ORAL TALK accepted and presented on September 27, 2012 at the
4-th IAA Symposium SEARCHING FOR LIFE SIGNATURES – Republic of San Marino September 25-28, 2012
CURRICULUM VITAE
Dr. Massimo Teodorani is an astrophysicist. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1992 from the Bologna University with a specialization in stellar physics. Between 1995 and 2005 he has been working as a researcher at the Naples Observatory and at the INAF Medicina Radiotelescopes. Being experienced both in optical and radio astronomy, he carried out studies on eruptive stars, exoplanets and SETI. He is also an expert of the physics of anomalous plasma phenomena of geophysical interest. Recently he taught quantum physics at the Bologna University. He is author of 16 science divulging books.
The hypothetic possibility of migration inside the galaxy and that some particularly advanced ( Type II) civilizations are able to build huge “arks” in order to use them both as stable habitats and as transfer interstellar vehicles has been ventured by several scholars in the last 30 years [1]. It is quite logical to hypothesize that such civilizations are able to predict with much more accuracy than us the approximate date of the onset of the giant phase of their mother star, in order to be able to build in useful time large-dimension mobile colonies and/or smaller spacecrafts containing aboard samples of DNA and other cryogenically maintained biological material to be activated at a later phase. If technologically-driven migration is a sufficiently frequent process in our galaxy and if it is operational since a long time compared to the age of the galaxy, the possibility that some of such arks or probes have reached the Solar System might be non-zero [2]. Such objects are expected to be characterized by a high angular velocity and – exactly like Dyson Spheres – a possibly strong infrared emission due to energy loss from their power supply system. A minority of the various unrepeated radio signals that have been recorded so far by SETI observations might be due to a source of non-intentional microwave emission that is occasionally captured by the antenna lobe. It is possible to elaborate a pragmatic strategy that is able to permit radio SETI researchers to promptly search for the suspected signal by pointing the antenna to gradually larger concentric circles on the celestial sphere, in order to attempt to receive the signal again and then to be able to determine the orbit of the transient radio source, which then can be accurately tracked. Evidently if this happens the source can then be also accurately measured using infrared space telescopes and X-ray and/or Gamma-ray space telescopes in order to verify if the source is able to produce occasional outburst of energy too. All of this research is within the effective capability of current monitoring technology.
REFERENCES
1. Bainbridge, W. S. (1984). “Computer simulation of cultural drift: limitations on interstellar civilization”. J. Brit. Interplanetary Soc., n. 37, pp. 420-429.
2. Teodorani M. (2006). ”An Alternative Method for the Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life: “The Local SETI” “. In: J. Seckbach (ed.) Book: Life as We Know It, Springer, COLE Books, Vol. 10, pp. 487-503.
.
ORAL TALK accepted and presented on September 27, 2012 at the
4-th IAA Symposium SEARCHING FOR LIFE SIGNATURES – Republic of San Marino September 25-28, 2012
CURRICULUM VITAEDr. Massimo Teodorani is an astrophysicist. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1992 from the Bologna University with a specialization in stellar physics. Between 1995 and 2005 he has been working as a researcher at the Naples Observatory and at the INAF Medicina Radiotelescopes. Being experienced both in optical and radio astronomy, he carried out studies on eruptive stars, exoplanets and SETI. He is also an expert of the physics of anomalous plasma phenomena of geophysical interest. Recently he taught quantum physics at the Bologna University. He is author of 16 science divulging books.
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