13 March 2014
Wow!
I
read something the other day, in an article about the Wow! signal I
think, which suggested that we are likely known to intelligent species,
if there are any, within a radius of 100 light years or so from the sun.
That is the length of time that we have been emitting radio and other
signals that would be detectable in radio telescopes and so on. If this
is true, and if they care to reply, it could be a very long time before
we receive a signal of acknowledgement. It is unlikely that intelligent
creatures from elsewhere have been here, since interstellar
distances are so vast, that crossing them would take millions of years. There would be no need for such travel, since
interstellar communication would convey enough information to make
travel irrelevant. The Wow! signal apparently came from a source 600
light years away. If its source is intelligent, that intelligence cannot
possibly know about us, since our signals are 500 years away from reaching it. We may be the first or even the only intelligent
species in our galaxy, but there is no way to know that. We will keep
collecting signals, and who knows......?
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