SETI and Beyond: A discussion with Brian Keating, Paul Davies, Jim Benford and Mat Kaplan (#035)

   Books mentioned in this episode: The Eerie Silence:
Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies The Demon
in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the
Mystery of Life by Paul Davies Starship Century, Edited by Greggory
& James Benford A technologically advanced extraterrestrial
civilization could likely detect life on Earth, if such beings
exist. Life on Earth could be detectable in our planet’s
atmospheric spectral lines for over a billion years. Most of our
atmospheric oxygen is due to life, and can be observed over
interstellar distances — across thousands of light-years. Over this
long time, many stars have swept near our solar system and Earth.
If extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) on such “nearby” planets did
send probes to remotely observe our planet, where in the Solar
System should we look to find evidence of their past visitation?
The Moon is the obvious, closest place. Another option would be a
newly discovered class of co-orbital objects, an equally logical
place to locate for observing Earth. These objects approach Earth
very closely every year at distances much closer than any large
body besides our Moon. They are an ideal way for ET’s to watch our
world from a secure natural object that provides resources an ET
life form might need: materials, a firm anchor, and concealment.
They might likely be robotic probes, like our own Voyager and New
Horizons probes, remaining on site after exhausting their energy
supply. Studying the Moon and co-orbitals could be termed
“extraterrestrial archeology”. For the Moon, we can use the
photographic mapping of the Moon’s surface by the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter. Co-orbitals have been little studied by
astronomy and not at all by SETI or planetary radar observations.
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