The biggest EVER scientific search for ALIENS outside our galaxy | Breakthrough Listen Project

Video Description

Go to https://brilliant.org/drbecky to get a 30-day free trial and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription! Searching for aliens might sound like something from sci-fi, but there are legitimate scientific searches for signs of life beyond Earth in the Universe. Either through biosignatures in planet atmospheres, or for technosignatures of advanced civilisations. The largest ever search for technosignatures is being conducted by the Breakthrough Listen project, and this month they published their latest research searching for extra-galactic signals from beyond our Milky Way. Turns out this is getting harder and harder to do with each passing year as more satellites are launched into orbit around Earth. In particular, SpaceX’s Starlink is once again causing trouble for us astronomers… Choza et al. (2023; breakthrough listen search for extra-galactic technosignatures) - https://seti.berkeley.edu/galaxies/choza.pdf Kardashev (1964; definition of Kardashev civilisations) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1964SvA.....8..217K Gajjar et al. (2021; technosignature search in the centre of the Milky Way) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2104.14148.pdf Wlodarczyk-Sroka et al. (2021; Breakthrough Listen project for stars in the Milky Way) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.09756.pdf Tremblay & Tingay (2020; search for technosignatures in the Vela region) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2009.03267.pdf Klein et al. (1988; radio spectrum of M82) - https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1988A%26A...190...41K 00:00 - Introduction 00:59 - Biosignatures in the search for aliens 02:00 - Technosignatures in the search for aliens 02:53 - The Breakthrough Listen project 04:15 - Extra-galactic technosignatures 04:59 - Kardashev Type-II civilisations & Dyson Spheres 06:55 - The Doppler Drift search method 09:24 - The results from Choza et al. (2023) - no evidence for technosignatures 10:50 - Could AI spot anything that’s been missed? 12:00 - Radio Frequency Interference from satellites (like SpaceX’s Starlink) 13:51 - Brilliant 15:12 - Bloopers Video filmed with a Sony Alpha 7 IV --- 📚 My new book, "A Brief History of Black Holes", out NOW in hardback, e-book and audiobook (which I narrated myself!): http://hyperurl.co/DrBecky --- 📚 "The Year In Space" celebrating all things space in 2022 from me and the rest of the Supermassive Podcast team: https://geni.us/jNcrw --- 👕 My new merch, including JWST designs, are available here (with worldwide shipping!): https://dr-becky.teemill.com/ LAST SHIPPING DATES FOR CHRISTMAS: AUSTRALIA & NZ: 30th November 2023 AFRICA & ASIA: 4th December 2023 EU: 8th December 2023 USA & CANADA: 9th December 2023 UK: 18th December 2023 (Priority shipping 20th December 2023) --- 🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive --- 🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video! --- 👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars. http://drbecky.uk.com https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk