NASA scientists have scanned over 100,000 galaxies surrounding our own Milky Way galaxy and they’ve discovered suspicious infrared activity across nearly 50 galaxies.
The study was based on a theory that there are about 100 million galaxies of which some could definitely house intelligent life. Research done by Penn State used data from NASA’s Wise (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) and found suspicious mid-infrared wavelength activity in over fifty galaxies, according to The Times Gazette.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Jason T. Wright” author_title=”Lead investigator and assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State’s Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds”]
The idea behind our research is that, if an entire galaxy had been colonized by an advanced spacefaring civilization, the energy produced by that civilization’s technologies would be detectable in mid-infrared wavelengths — exactly the radiation that the WISE satellite was designed to detect for other astronomical purposes. Whether an advanced spacefaring civilization uses the large amounts of energy from its galaxy’s stars to power computers, space flight, communication, or something we can’t yet imagine, fundamental thermodynamics tells us that this energy must be radiated away as heat in the mid-infrared wavelengths.
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According to The Huffington Post, lead author Roger Griffith said that these results do not confirm alien life, because the mid-infrared wavelength radiation can result from natural astronomical processes, but it could also indicate the presence of a highly advanced civilization.
We should be able to push our sensitivity to alien technology down to much lower levels, and to better distinguish the heat from natural sources from heat produced by intelligent life, concludes Wright.
Legendary astronomer Dr. Jill Tarter, the former director of the Center for SETI Research in Mountain View, Calif, adds that this is not the end and that they will continue to search for extraterrestrial life.
Last week, NASA claimed that we’ll find alien life in 20 years. All we can do is wait and see what impact will the recent discovery have on the NASA’s search for extraterrestrial life.
