Scientists have probed a perfectly synchronized planetary system 100 light years away for extraterrestrial signals

When a perfectly synchronized planetary system is relatively speaking only 100 light years from Earth, it’s only a matter of time before astronomers turn their attention to possible signs of an extraterrestrial civilization.
About 100 light-years from our solar system, there is a remarkable planetary system centered on the moderate orange dwarf star HD 110067. The system has six exoplanets, each floating gracefully in perfect orbital resonance, a true cosmic rarity because the system has preserved its unique stability in about a billion years.

Scientists, led by astrophysicist Carmen Choza of the SETI Institute, are fascinated by the exceptional stability of this planetary system, which represents a unique environment that favors the emergence and flourishing of life.

Choza and her team began investigating technosignatures, or radio signals that indicate technological activity. Despite the lack of such signals, scientists remain intrigued, highlighting the potential for future research with increased sensitivity.

The research is published in the journal Research Notes of the AAS.

The search for extraterrestrial technosignatures in our galaxy presents significant challenges. The sheer size of the Milky Way and the incomprehensible nature of alien technology make the search daunting. Using Earth’s radio emission as a reference, SETI scientists extrapolate potential wavelengths and signal patterns to detect extraterrestrial technology in nearby planetary systems.

Therefore, the HD 110067 system appears as an attractive research topic. Its remarkable stability, along with the fact that all six planets, which are smaller than Neptune, have some potential harbors of liquid water, adds to the appeal of the search for extraterrestrial life.

Choza and her colleagues scrutinized archival data from the Green Bank Telescope, looking for distinct frequency variations that could indicate the presence of an advanced civilization. Despite eliminating signals originating from Earth, the search yielded no evidence of extraterrestrial technology following this specific approach. However, that outcome eliminates only one of the research, leaving many other possibilities unexplored.

The physical attributes of HD 110067 continue to attract scientists, who acknowledge the need for future searches for a technological signature.

Although we did not find any signals with this search, we foresee the return of this system and others like it in the future with increasingly sensitive and diverse search methods, Choza points out.