In reply to Kyle Mcallister's message of Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:07:03 -0700 (PDT): Hi, [snip] >it is suggested a UHF carrier could be detected at a range of 0.3 ly.
0.3 ly is effectively "next door". In order to be that close, it would have to have been deliberately sent to our solar system. If they are going to send one here deliberately, then they might as well go all the way, and come into the solar system, In which case they will pick up quite a bit more. However:- 1) They have to know to come to this system in the first place. 2) If such a probe were not capable of FTL travel, then there is a good chance that it would break down before it got here, depending on travel time. 3) If they have FTL travel capability, then they have no need of intercepting radio/tv anyway. >If that is true, a passing probe, eavesdropping on nearby solar-type stars >could get an idea that there's something near the Sun. > >I read a paper some time ago, by Jill Tarter I think, that suggested that >radar broadcasts (Arecibo transmissions, ICBM early warning radar) could be >detected out to a distance of some light-years. > >The fact that no intelligible broadcast could be detected from a distance of >more than ~1/3 light-year is interesting; there could be something as close as >Alpha Centauri, and we might never know about it. Indeed. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
