Can the light and noise of the Earth attract aliens?

Since the advent of artificial lighting at 19century, humanity did not often think about the consequences. But our houses and streets are constantly lit. And all so that we can go about our business at any time of the day. In addition to the obvious benefits for each of us and the economy, there is a growing awareness in society of the negative effects of artificial lighting. Light pollution leads to disturbance of the behavior of wild animals, and also negatively affects the state of mental health. But we rarely think about this - light makes us visible in the open spaces. Remember the night shots of the Earth from the ISS? Such a beauty is quite capable of attracting attention to herself.

Does intelligent life in space exist?

We don’t know if aliens exist. So far, the Fermi paradox that we wrote about has not been decided yet. Scientists can only assume that life outside our planet exists. However, according to the eminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, if intelligent life exists in space, we should not meet with it, much less attract attention.

You can share your thoughts on whether aliens are friendly here.

Think for yourself: Having stumbled upon an anthill, you will begin to talk with these insects? Most likely, you just step on the anthill and then shake off the boot. As you already understood, according to Hawking, our planet is an anthill. So if you adhere to the same opinion that this great scientist adhered to, it really makes sense to us to worry that someone might see us. Or hear it.

Does anyone hear us?

In 1974, radio astronomer Frank Drake usingThe most powerful radio telescope in those years at the Arecibo Observatory sent messages into space announcing our existence. And in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 went into space. On board each device is a gold plate on which, in addition to basic information about you and me, are the coordinates of our planet.

Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico

Despite the fact that space explorationspace representatives of the species Homo sapiens - our greatest achievement, some scientists nevertheless, are in solidarity with Hawking. We do not know what aliens can be. And if there is a technologically advanced civilization, it is very possible that we should not send messages to space that we are hungry for a meeting.

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However, without sending messages into space andprobes, we could inadvertently give out our presence. All due to the invention of radio communications, including navigation, television broadcasts and the Internet. All of these signals can be detected from space. So it is possible that we have already been noticed. The question is how friendly this "someone" is.

Are they watching us?

As we said, night shots of our planetfrom space fascinate. The contours of the continents are framed by light, ships “draw” lines across the oceans, and the seas are dotted with oil platforms. Despite the fact that even from Jupiter our planet is seen as a “pale blue dot” artificial lighting is easily noticeable for technologically advanced civilizations.

The “pale blue dot” image was taken by the Voyager-1 spacecraft

In the near future, space agencies of differentcountries can develop means of detecting such artificial light from planets near other stars. However, if aliens find it best not to take risks, we may fail. On the other hand, it is possible that alien guests are already sent to our planet. In this case, the question arises - should we dim the light before it is too late?