‘Golden age of alien hunting’ has begun say group of scientists expected to be ‘first to know’ about ET discovery

A HIGH-powered telescope nestled in the remote wilderness may hold the key to finding extraterrestrial life.

The Green Bank Telescope became the first radio astronomy telescope in the United States at the time of its founding in 1957.

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The Green Bank Telescope, the first radio astronomy observatory in the United States, may be the first to detect signs of deep-space alien technology[/caption]

Radio telescopes like the GBT detect energy waves emitted by stellar objects and amplify them to learn more about their structure, composition, and movement through space.

If advanced extraterrestrial life exists beyond Earth, the GBT stands at the forefront of discovering it.

“It feels to me like this is something of a golden age,” radio astronomer Steve Croft explained.

The West Virginia facility contains 6,000 hard drives holding 40 petabytes of data, roughly equivalent to 40,000 laptops.

Scientists are looking for anomalies in radio wave data that suggest distant lifeforms are trying to make contact.

Recent improvements in technology over the past decade, including advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, are only helping to streamline the process.

These tools helps scientists comb through reams of data for “technosignatures,” or signs of alien technology.

These include nitrogen dioxide pollution, chlorofluorocarbons, nightside city lights, and evidence of agriculture.

And then there are unusual radio waves – on the off chance an alien civilization is pulsing out a signal to alert their neighbors.

The GBT sits in the National Radio Quiet Zone, designated by the U.S. government to help astronomers shield their equipment from radio interference.

Each year, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley head to the telescope during a period of track maintenance.

They are part of Breakthrough Listen, dubbed the “largest-ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth.”

Other groups across the world are looking for extraterrestrial technology, too.

In a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal this summer, scientists searched for the reflection of sunlight off solar panels on “Earth-like exoplanets.”

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Scientists are searching for alien “technosignatures” like nitrogen dioxide pollution, evidence of agriculture, and unusual radio waves in our galaxy and beyond[/caption]

The team ultimately concluded that it would be near impossible to detect a civilization harnessing solar power, as solar energy is too efficient.

It was just the latest in a series of false starts. In 2020, the Breakthrough Listen team found a lead in the nearest star system, Proxima Centauri.

However, analysis revealed that the blip was no more than human radio interference.

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Scientists at the GBT are searching for unusual radio waves that indicate our extraterrestrial neighbors are intentionally emitting a signal[/caption]

Scientists, including those at the GBT, maintain hope amid a flurry of technological advancements, believing they are growing closer to a breakthrough every day.

Matt Lebofsky, lead system administrator, doesn’t think the excitement is “deflating” at all.

“I feel like the chances are improving exponentially every year,” he said.