Scientists prepare to ‘listen’ to space object Oumuamua for signs of alien life as it speeds past Earth

Patrick Grafton-Green13 December 2017

Scientists are preparing to “listen” to a bizarre object currently hurtling past Earth at 196,000mph for signs of alien life.

The cigar-shaped entity, dubbed “Oumuamua”, is the first object discovered in the solar system that appears to have originated from another part of the galaxy.

Although it is most likely an interstellar asteroid, its huge size and speed have also led experts to suggest it could actually be an example of intelligent life or an alien spacecraft.

It is hundreds of metres in length but only one tenth as wide which is highly unusual for a typical space rock, scientists have said.

An artist's impression of the huge cigar-shaped object
PA

Researchers at SETI – the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence – have been turning The Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world, towards the object.

They will listen for radio signals being broadcast for a period of six hours from about 11pm on Thursday.

Andrew Siemion, director of SETI Research Centre based at the University of Berkeley, California, told the Standard: “It is a remarkable small body asteroid, the first interesting object that has ever been discovered not bound to our sun.

“It has a very odd shape relative to anything that we have seen.

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“When we discover any astrophysical object the likelihood of it being artificial is pretty small, but another opportunity to explore the universe is a very exciting one.

“We don’t know of any other life apart from on earth, everything else is natural, so we have to assume the most likely explanation is that it is natural.

“But of course the universe will look completely natural until it doesn’t, and the only way we are going to answer this question is by conducting an experiment.”

The Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, US, which is going to track the object 
PA

Scientists at SETI will listen to the object, which was first spotted by astronomers from the University of Hawaii in October, across four radio frequency bands spanning one to 12 gigahertz.

Mr Siemion added: “I do think there is probably life out there. I would have a hard time doing this work if I didn’t think there was a possibility.

“It is an interesting object; we are excited to take a look at it. It is absolutely very exciting even if there is a remote possibility of evidence of life.

“And if it is natural, it is still a big discovery. It was not predicted that it would be so easy to find such an object like this in our solar system.”

On the object possibly revealing alien life, Mr Siemion added: “This will mean that we have discovered for the first time life beyond the earth, another technologically capable species.

“It would confirm that we are not alone. It would indicate that technologically capable life is very common.

“We will probably detect many more.”

The $100 million (£75 million) SETI project Breakthrough Listen was launched by Russian digital tech mogul Yuri Milner in 2015 to survey a million nearby stars and 100 nearby galaxies looking for alien signals.

Since the 1960s there have been more than 98 Seti projects around the world, none of which have turned up any convincing evidence of extra-terrestrial civilisations.

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