For decades, humanity has searched for answers to unravel the mystery surrounding the existence of aliens, but they have failed.
A new study has found that the search for aliens may be flawed and that humans have overlooked contact with aliens for years.
According to the scientists, aliens may have tried to contact us, but humanity misses their signals due to space weather, which is responsible for distorting incoming transmissions.
They warned that messages sent from distant planets harboring alien life could be disrupted by activity from nearby stars and solar weather.
Scientists have searched for the existence of non-intelligent beings by looking for spikes in radio frequencies. Because natural objects such as stars or pulsars do not actually make these pure, specific sounds, it has always been assumed that such sounds are sent by aliens.
However, the recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal suggests that alien life could actually send out thin, precise signals. As these signals travel through space, they are likely to be smeared, making them appear as faint background noise rather than a sharp sound.
According to Vishal Gajjar, astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper, “SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) searches are often optimized for extremely narrow signals. If a signal is broadened by the environment of its own star, it can fall below our detection thresholds even if it is already there.”
“By quantifying how stellar activity can reshape narrowband signals, we can design searches that better reflect what actually arrives at Earth, not just what might be emitted,” said Grayce C. Brown, co-author of the study and research assistant at the SETI Institute.
