A nearby star system has just served as the proving ground for a new technique to search for signs of extraterrestrial life.
As detailed in a study set to be published in The Astronomical Journal, astronomers have developed a method that allows alien hunters to listen for much smaller bandwidth radio signals, resembling what we use to communicate with our own spacecraft.
To test it, they set their sights on the TRAPPIST-1 star system, which is only 41 light years away. At its center is a cool red dwarf, surrounded by seven rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets, three of which orbit within their star's habitable zone, which means they could harbor water and support life.
While they didn't pick up on any alien technosignatures, they successfully demonstrated that their technique worked. If applied elsewhere in the cosmos, it could be used to pick up on communications that weren't intended to reach deep space.
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