Last year, scientists were able to discover the HD 110067 star system, described as "mathematically perfect." They are now investigating possible alien tech within the system.
HD 110067 Star System
The HD 110067 star system is situated just 100 light-years away from the Earth. It contains six exoplanets that are spaced apart perfectly to form a mathematical harmony that can rarely be observed across the Universe.
In a November 2023 paper, scientists noted the system's remarkable attributes. Unfortunately, these did not include any planets within the habitable zone, which refers to the distance from the star that could potentially support life.
However, scientists are still continuing their investigations. Steve Croft, a radio astronomer and alien life-searching expert from the University of Berkeley, explains that there is no reason why advanced civilizations could not have lived in the star system and potentially left some technology behind.
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Possible Alien Tech
Croft explains that the technology within the Earth's solar system has spread beyond the habitable zone. He served as a coauthor of the new "A Radio Technosignature Search of Six Resonant Sub-Neptunes Orbiting HD 110067" study regarding the potential for alien tech within or surrounding the star system.
The radio astronomer notes that even if the result is negative, such findings still reveal something.
Shortly after the star system's discovery was revealed, Croft's team started working with the Green Bank Telescope of West Virginia. This is the largest fully-steerable telescope in the world. The scientists searched for radio signals that were consistently present when the telescope was directed towards the system and absent when it was not. This is the techno signature smoking gun local to the system.
However, it is difficult to distinguish such signals from natural radio wave sources and the own technological signals from humans, such as the radio waves that beam from phones linked to the WiFi or the Starlink satellite network of SpaceX in low-Earth orbit. Croft explains that this leads to a haystack of signals where a needle for possible extraterrestrial signals needs to be found.
While the knowledge regarding the appearance of alien technology is insufficient, the team used various techniques to make sure that the signal they picked up was not local interference.
Ultimately, no technological signals were detected. However, such findings do not eliminate the technosignatures present in the star system. Rather, they reveal that no signal was beaming towards Earth during the time of the observations.
Now, the team is examining radio signals they collected while making use of other telescopes, such as the CHEOPS exoplanet satellite of the European Space Agency and the HARPS-N and CARMENES instruments of Spain. They are doing so to pin down the exoplanets' chemical makeup and size better in order to know more about what should be tuned out.
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