ASTEROID SEARCH LEAKAGE RADIATION AND SETI

Carl Helmers

Helmer's Publishing, Inc.

174 Concord Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

Copyright: Stuart Kingsley

Abstract

Astrophysicists tell us that planetary systems are a byproduct of stellar evolution. This paper reviews the hazard human civilization faces from comet or asteroid collisions with Earth, then makes the speculation that any ETI civilization evolving on any habitable planet would face the same sort of hazard from its star's residual protoplanetary debris. When the putative ETI civilization progresses to an active search strategy, radar and/or lidar signals used can result in a form of electromagnetic leakage radiation. Thus, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programs of various radio and optical astronomers should evaluate the detection probabilities for signatures of the transient lidar or radar beams likely to result from an ETI civilization's active debris search technology.

6 Pages

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