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The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has been ongoing for decades at this point. Despite that, we have yet to find any rock-hard evidence of a signal from an alien civilization. When asked about this, experts point out just how little of the overall signal space we\u2019ve analyzed. A signal could be coming from anywhere in the sky, at any frequency, and might not be continuous. Constraining the \u201csearch space\u201d could help us find a signal faster, but what could we use to constrain it? It\u2019s hard to think like an alien intelligence, let alone to mimic them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n One of the most famous examples of the reverse of search is the Arecibo message, wherein humanity tried to announce, \u201cWe are here,\u201d using scientific and mathematical standards like numbers and the atomic number of some elements (hydrogen and carbon, for example). Even so, it was still sent as a binary signal using a type of frequency modulation at a single point in time back in 1975. The likelihood that any civilization in the Messier 13 globular cluster, its intended target, will be able to both receive and interpret it is negligible. But it would help if they had a key to interpret it. But how can we convey a key to unlock the message without the key itself being interpretable only with the same key?<\/p>\n Naoki Seto of Kyoto University\u2019s Department of Physics has spent a lot of time thinking about that question, and he came to a similar conclusion about the usefulness of scientific constants. In the past, he produced papers that suggested the time of a future binary star merger or a past supernova explosion to help narrow down a patch of sky to look at. However, with a new paper released on March 21st, he suggested a new idea \u2013 the orbital period of an exceptionally bright star around the Milky Way\u2019s supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n \n