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Australia Joins The Hunt For Aliens With A Huge Dish Telescope

"You won’t find out unless you actually look.”
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By 

Writer, Editor, HuffPost

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Artist’s impression of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri AB is also seen in the image between the planet and Proxima Centauri. The Australian Parkes Radio Telescope is scanning this area of space, looking for intelligent alien radio frequencies.
ESOM Kornmesser

Scientists in Australia are aiming a huge dish telescope at Proxima Centauri, one of our close solar neighbors, joining the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. 

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star a mere 4.25 light years from us, where an Earth-like planet ― dubbed Proxima b ― is believed in orbit. Proxima b may have temperatures that could allow liquid water to exist there, scientists speculate. 

The next logical jump is speculation that Proxima b may be habitable.

The Parkes Radio Telescope (pictured below) in New South Wales will lend a hand, er, dish to the mix, scanning for radio frequencies that might originate from unknown civilizations in space, reports the Aussie Network News.

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The radio telescope at Parkes, Australia, revolves at night during routine maintenance.
�� Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

This is Australia’s first collaboration with Breakthrough Listen, a 10-year, $100 million global effort to actively search for intelligent alien life, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization confirmed. 

As reported by The New York Times, Breakthrough Listen was launched in 2015 by billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner. The project’s international supporters include renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, astronomer Frank Drake, who founded California’s SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Cambridge University’s Lord Martin Rees, and Ann Druyan, co-author of the “Cosmos” television programs and widow of astronomer Carl Sagan.

“The addition of Parkes is an important milestone,” Milner told Australian media. “These major instruments are the ears of planet Earth, and now they are listening for signs of other civilizations.”

The video below is an artist’s illustration, showing how the Parkes Radio Telescope “looked” through dust and gas of our Milky Way galaxy and found nearly 900 galaxies, “a third of which had never been seen before,” according to the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

Locating a verifiable intelligent alien radio signal is basically like looking for a cosmic needle in a haystack. But scientists believe Earth’s most powerful telescopes are the best chance of helping to answer the question of whether earthlings are alone in the universe.

John Reynolds, program director for Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, said he’s not convinced the Breakthrough Listen project will make history, according to Australian Network News. But no matter what, he added, the search effort isn’t pointless.

“I’m a bit of a skeptic, but I like the idea,” Reynolds said. “I think it is actually real science, even though the chance of success is small. It’s definitely a question that has to be answered, and you won’t find out unless you actually look.”  

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Before You Go

Artists' Conceptions Of Extrasolar Planets
New Super-Earth Discovered 39 Light-Years From Earth(01 of12)
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In April 2017 researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics CfA announced the discovery of a new super-Earth designated LHS 1140b orbiting the habitable zone of a small red dwarf star LHS 1140 about 39 light-years away Its 42 light-years from our sun to the nearest star Proxima Centauri This is an artist impression of the star LHS 1140 and the possible super-Earth planet which shows early indications of habitability (credit:M Weiss / CfA)
Seven Earth-Sized Planets Around One Star(02 of12)
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On Feb. 22, 2017, NASA announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star -- TRAPPIST-1 an ultra-cool dwarf sun in the constellation Aquarius just 39 light-years away This artists concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Closest Exoplanet To Earth -- August 2016(03 of12)
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On Aug. 24, 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced the confirmation of the closest exoplanet to Earth. This illustration shows Proxima b, which orbits its parent star Proxima Centauri, the closest sun to Earth's sun. Proxima b lies within its sun's habitable zone, strongly suggesting the planet has liquid water on its surface. (credit:PHL UPR Arecibo ESO)
Proxima b Exoplanet Orbits Red Dwarf Star(04 of12)
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Artist's impression of exoplanet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the planet and Proxima Centauri. (credit:ESOM Kornmesser)
Illustration of Proxima b Surface Features(05 of12)
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Artist impression shows a view of the surface of planet Proxima b, orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri can also be seen to the upper right of Proxima Centauri. (credit:ESOM Kornmesser)
Super-Earth Exoplanet 55 Cancri e(06 of12)
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In March 2016, NASA announced the discovery of a lava-loaded super-Earth called 55 Cancri e -- twice the size of our own planet but eight times as dense. It's so close to its star that a year lasts only 18 hours. Just 40 light-years away, 55 Cancri e may also be tidally locked to its sun the way the moon is to Earth. This artist's impression shows 55 Cancri e orbiting its parent star. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet(07 of12)
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This Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration shows Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. For the first time, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed a planet to orbit in a star's habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist. The planet is 2.4 times the size of Earth, making it the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone. Clouds could exist in this Earth's atmosphere, as the artist's interpretive illustration depicts. (credit:Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA via Getty Images)
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet(08 of12)
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In this Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration, a diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth. The diagram displays an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. (credit:Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA via Getty Images)
Extrasolar Planet HD 209458 b, Osiris(09 of12)
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Artist's conception released by NASA of extrasolar planet HD 209458 b, also known as Osiris, orbiting its star in the constellation Pegasus, some 150 light-years from Earth's solar system. Scientists have used an infrared spectrum -- the first ever obtained for an extrasolar planet -- to analyze Osiris' atmosphere, which is said to contain dust but no water. The planet's surface temperature is more than 700 Celsius (1330 Fahrenheit). (credit:Getty)
Planet & Its Parent Star(10 of12)
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Picture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a Jupiter-sized planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits. When the planet transits the star, the star's apparent brightness drops by a few percent for a short period. Through this technique, astronomers can use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for planets across the galaxy by measuring periodic changes in a star's luminosity. (credit:AFP PHOTO NASA/ESA/K. SAHU (STScI) / Getty)
Hot Jupiter(11 of12)
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Picture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a unique type of exoplanet discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. This image presents a purely speculative view of what a 'hot Jupiter' (word dedicated to planets so close to their stars with such short orbital periods) might look like. A seam of stars at the center of the Milky Way has shown astronomers that an entirely new class of planets closely orbiting distant suns is waiting to be explored. An international team of astronomers, using a camera aboard NASA's Hubble telescope, delved into a zone of the Milky Way known as the 'galactic bulge,' thus called because it is rich in stars and in the gas and dust which go to make up stars and planets. The finding opens up a new area of investigation for space scientists probing extrasolar planets - planets that orbit stars other than our own. (credit:AFP PHOTO NASA/ESA/K. SAHU (STScI) / Getty)
Iceball Exoplanet(12 of12)
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This artist's concept depicts an iceball exoplanet designated OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, discovered with a technique called microlensing. (credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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