Alien Civilizations , Could Contact Earth by 2029, Study Suggests.
'Popular Science' reports that scientists have recently attempted to determine which distant stars could have intercepted Earth-based radio transmissions.
For over 100 years, Earth has been beaming radio waves across the planet.
In recent years, humans have sent even stronger signals out into space to contact distant probes like the Voyager spacecraft.
Those transmissions will eventually reach distant stars and the planets that surround them, which could potentially host alien life.
According to a paper published in the journal 'Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific,' Earth could receive a response to those transmissions as soon as 2029.
This is a famous idea from Carl Sagan, who used it as a plot theme in the movie 'Contact.', Howard Isaacson, co-author and astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, via 'Popular Science'.
Transmissions are sent to probes at the edge of our solar system by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), a world-spanning network of radio dishes.
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According to the team behind the paper, a signal sent to Pioneer 10 reached a white dwarf star about 27 light-years away in 2002.
According to the team behind the paper, a signal sent to Pioneer 10 reached a white dwarf star about 27 light-years away in 2002.
A return message from that solar system could reach Earth no sooner than 2029.
Other transmissions sent to Voyager 2 in 1980 and 1983 could receive a response sometime in the early 2030s.
