We discuss the possibility of enhancing intelligent life searches toward the Galactic center. From the clockwork orbital motions of stars around the Sgr A∗ black hole, we can determine the distance to the Galactic center at an exceptional accuracy, despite its remoteness ∼8.3kpc.
In addition, we can define precise reference epochs by selecting a prominent object such as the bright B-type star S2. These properties have a particular affinity for the coordinated signaling scheme which was hypothesized by Seto (2019) for systematically connecting intentional senders to searchers without a prior communication.
If S2 is actually being used as a common reference clock, we can compress the search directions around the Galactic center by more than two orders of magnitude, with the scanning interval of ∼16yr.
Naoki Seto
Comments: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2404.00840 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2404.00840v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: Naoki Seto
[v1] Mon, 1 Apr 2024 00:38:52 UTC (181 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.00840
Astrobiology, SETI,
