Aliens are watching us and are snooping on major landmarks across the Earth while using their ultra-advanced telescopes sitting thousands of light years away, a new study has claimed. But there is one catch: They are not observing us in real-time. Instead, there could be a delay of at least 3,000 years due to the time that light takes to travel across space. So, most probably, aliens are able to pick out buildings and structures built on Earth during the times of the Romans, Greeks, Indians and Egyptians.
The peer-reviewed paper is published in the March 2024 edition of Acta Astronautica, titled “Are we visible to advanced alien civilizations?”. According to author ZN Osmanov, a Research Affiliate at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) institute, the maximum distance for potential detection of activities on Earth by an extraterrestrial civilisation is 3000 light-years, an estimate calculated on the basis of the laws of physics It means that aliens could use huge and advanced telescopes to snoop on our major landmarks of the past. The study aimed to determine our detectability by categorising alien civilisations based on their technological advancements.
These classifications are based on the capability of the alien societies to harness the energy of their local star. The proposed categories are as follows: Type-I consumes all the energy incident on a planet from its star; Type-II utilises the total energy of the star; and Type-III is an advanced society that consumes the entire galactic energy. The study reads: “In particular, the question is: can the artefacts of our technological society be visible and potentially detectable by the telescopes of ETs?
“Since the question is to identify our society with civilization, the major focus should be on the search for large ships, buildings space satellites, etc. Such artefacts might easily be identified as artificial constructions. “For this purpose, it is natural to focus on the visible light reflected from the corresponding objects. To identify an observed object with an artificial one, the best way is to spatially resolve it. Therefore, optical telescopes will be used.”
