Hunting Aliens with Parkes Radio Telescope

Australia’s Radio Telescope is bound to join the hunt for aliens. The astronomical project launched by Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner in 2015 called the Breakthrough Listen was meant to investigate the existence of extraterrestrial life. Lately, scientists have announced that there appeared the first theories with the help of CSIRO’S Parkes radio telescope.

The Australian telescope together with two American telescopes, the Automated Planet Finder in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia have teamed up to lead the search. The survey was concerned to reveal whether there exist other forms of lives in the universe. Yuri Milner, one of the founders of the Breakthrough Initiatives project Parkes radio telescope brought a significant contribution to the study.

He claimed that these binoculars represent the years of Earth paying attention when listening for signs that may come from other civilizations. After two weeks had spent developing test observations, On November 8, Parkes telescope revealed the analysis of the Earth-like planet which was recently discovered. This planet is orbiting Proxima Centauri, a star situated near our Sun.

Proxima Centauri is a dwarf star situated at 4.2 light-years from our planet. Scientists believe that this star is orbited by ‘Proxima b’ planet which is presumed to held liquid water on its surface. These types of planets known as exoplanets represent the more significant objects to be examined.

Dr. Andrew Siemion, who is the Director of Berkeley SETI Research Center, has claimed that the chances of discovering a planet which sustains life are insignificant. He is also the leader of the Breakthrough List program. Dr. Siemion has asserted that once the discovery was made, they needed to investigate the new exoplanet even more.

The radio telescope was carefully positioned to examine parts of the cosmos which are not visible from the northern hemisphere, also including the center of our galaxy besides various types of other galaxies which are located nearby. Dr. Douglas Bock, who is the Director of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, has argued that Parkes radio telescope is known as one of the telescopes.

This telescope has achieved numerous projects and missions, including the breakthrough of the first ‘fast radio burst.’ The unique view offered by this telescope regarding the southern sky is fantastic, demonstrating it has an immense opportunity to search for aliens.

Image source: wikipedia