If an alien space probe wandered into our Solar System, what would it look like? Assuming anybody’s actually out there, and assuming they happen to send something our way, the first alien probe that reaches us will probably be a highly advanced model, not an early effort like our Voyagers.

And that could have implications for how we interpret Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (the new and marginally more respectful term for UFOs), how we search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence in our own backyard, and how we plan future interstellar missions, according to University of California, Santa Cruz, astronomer Graeme Smith.

Smith outlines his scenario in a recent paper in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

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