If we ca n’t get in contact flat with any of the unknown that might live on the Milky Way ’s one thousand million and billions of satellite , then the next best pick is to look for grounds that they have reshaped their worlds . And silly as it might sound , our best hope is that aliens practice hairspray and central air .
The inherent reason for that is simple enough — the chemicals on Earth once used in those products were cognise as chlorofluorocarbon , or CFCs . The reason we check using CFCs is that they ’re extremely strong greenhouse gun and play a major use in the depletion of the ozone layer . But because CFCs are non - toxic chemicals , it would n’t be surprising for another alien civilisation to make the same mistake we did and utilize such chemicals in their product .
If an alien public did make use of CFCs , the evidence would quickly show up in that satellite ’s atmosphere — after all , less than a century ’s Charles Frederick Worth of CFC use on Earth radically affected our satellite ’s aura . Crucially , chlorofluorocarbon do n’t occur course under any fuck luck , so if we detected the presence of CFCs in the atmospheric state of another planet , it would almost for certain be proof that an intelligent species had synthesized and used them . Best of all , the chemical signatures of CFCs are radically different from those of course occuring chemicals , so we should n’t involve too much of a technological cost increase before we should be able to notice them .
Astrobiology Magazine has a cool featureon this very matter , including this explanation from astrobiologist Sanjoy Som of the Blue Marble Space Institute :
“ An industrialised civilisation will be one that will apply its planetary imagination for fabrication , the presently - to - be - detectable - from - Earth atmospherical byproducts of which could be a tell - story sign of their natural process . We are on the scientific brink of being able-bodied to actively wait for extrasolar worlds inhabited by technological civilizations . We are about a decade away of being able to measure detailed compositions of the standard pressure of extrasolar planets . ”
Som and his colleagues are currently skip to raise the quite fairish sum of $ 24,000 to continue their enquiry into the detection of unreal chemical signatures on far distant alien worlds . One peculiarly challenging wrinkle for the project is the possibility that foreign utilisation of CFCs and other artificial chemical substance could be used to warm up up and terraform satellite that would not otherwise be livable , intend we could detect such chemicals on inhabited planets that lie outside stars ’ usual habitable zona . Som explain :
“ Artificially warming a torso outside of the habitable zone to make it habitable could also be a separate - tale polarity of intelligence . For exemplar , imagine that in a few thousand long time , man have terraformed Mars . Suppose that an exotic species is observing our solar system and finds Earth . In addition , it appraise the atmospherical composition of Mars , a planet basically outside the inhabitable geographical zone of our sun , and get sublime glasshouse gasses in addition to water vapor and oxygen . This two - planet organization would be a inviolable denotation to them of an intelligent culture at work expanding its cradle outside of its place planet . ”
For more , check outAstrobiology Magazine .
Artist ’s conception by Lynnette Cook viaNASA .
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