Why we keep scanning the skies for signs of alien intelligence

The search for alien life continues, but how near are we to finding life on other planets – but will we ever answer the question ‘are we alone’? In less than an hour, the decision was made. It was 2 December and Avi Loeb, an astronomy professor at Harvard, was with Yuri Milner, the Russian billionaire and founder of Breakthrough Listen, a $100m alien-hunting venture. Milner had invited Loeb, an adviser on the project, to his Palo Alto home to discuss the bizarre features of the interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua.The first known visitor from another solar system, the monolithic lump appeared long and slender, a curious shape for a space rock. The two agreed there was the slimmest chance ‘Oumuamua was not what it seemed. Eleven days later, Breakthrough Listen swung the world’s largest steerable telescope, at Green Bank in West Virginia, into position and scanned the 400-metre-long body for signs that it was a passing spacecraft. Continue reading…
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