SETI & Technosignatures

A Search For Optical Laser Emission From Alpha Centauri AB

By Keith Cowing

Press Release

astro-ph.IM

November 23, 2022

Filed under Alpha Centauri AB, Optical Laser Emission, SETI, Technosignature

A Search For Optical Laser Emission From Alpha Centauri AB — This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us this stunning view of the bright Alpha Centauri A (on the left) and Alpha Centauri B (on the right), shining like huge cosmic headlamps in the dark. The image was captured by the Wide-Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). WFPC2 was Hubble’s most used instrument for the first 13 years of the space telescope’s life, being replaced in 2009 by Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) during Servicing Mission 4. This portrait of Alpha Centauri was produced by observations carried out at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. — NASA

A search for laser light from the directions of Alpha Centauri A and B was performed by examining 15362 optical, high-resolution spectra obtained between 2004 and 2018. None of the spectra exhibit laser emission lines.

The threshold was 10% of the continuum intensity of the spectra of both stars at all wavelengths between 3850 and 6900 Å. This search would have revealed optical laser light from the directions of Alpha Cen B if the laser had a power at least 1.4 to 5.4 MW (depending on wavelength) and was positioned within the 1 arcsecond field of view (projecting to 1.3 AU), for a benchmark 10-meter laser launcher.

For Alpha Cen A, the laser power must be 3 times greater for detection. Lasers of smaller aperture would also have been detected but would require more power. Considering all optical surveys, a growing desert is emerging in the search for extraterrestrial technology.

G.W.Marcy

Comments: Dedicated to the late Frank Drake
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2211.11756 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2211.11756v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.11756
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Journal reference: MNRAS, v516 p2938 (2022)
Submission history
From: Geoffrey W. Marcy
[v1] Mon, 21 Nov 2022 02:18:16 UTC (1,228 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.11756
Astrobiology,

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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