movie about recieving a radio signal from space

#Movie about recieving a radio signal from space movie#

But unlike in Independence Day, real-life SETI researchers don’t assume aliens are looking for us. There’s still always a chance we could pick up on a signal of alien life - just like in the movie. “They may have had radio for a million years or even a billion years.” He adds, “I think it's a pretty safe bet, just on the basis of the numbers, that no aliens know about homo sapiens, yet. “We’ve only had radio for 100 years - they may have had radio for a million years or even a billion years,” Shostak says. Therefore, it’s quite possible extraterrestrial intelligent life has developed powerful transmitters capable of transmitting a galactic weather report.īut our radio systems aren’t capable of transmitting on that scale - or at least not in a cost-effective way. “Most of the universe is three times older than our planet,” Shostak says. It’s hard to determine the likelihood that aliens are trying to make contact with us at this moment in time, according to Shostak. Independence Day portends a violent clash between humans and aliens, but we may never meet in real life. “We pick up signals, but you have to decide, ‘Is this a signal from a satellite? Or is this a signal from aliens?” Shostak says.

But an alien signal will only be heard when you’re pointing the antenna in their direction. A satellite signal will be so strong that you can hear it in all directions. If astronomers pick up a signal and they’re not sure of its source, the researchers will move the antenna a bit. These receivers pick up countless satellite signals every day, “but these are all due to an intelligent creature known as humanity,” Shostak says. “So we sort of beat that by having receivers that can listen to hundreds of millions of channels simultaneously,” Shostak says. You can’t just find aliens by turning the dial on the radio, since you’ll probably be looking at the wrong frequency and miss their signal. Computers record any incoming signals.ĭepending on the strength of the alien transmitter, we could hear their signals from a couple of hundred light-years away. The researchers set the antennas to aim at a specific star system, but beyond that, the process is automated. These antennas pick up radio signals known as “microwaves,” which indicate where on the radio dial researchers are looking for intelligent life. “We have radio antennas that look like a backyard satellite dish on steroids.” “We have radio antennas that look like a backyard satellite dish on steroids.” “We are looking for the aliens - that’s true,” Shostak says. The broad strokes of the movie’s SETI mission are “generally” correct according to Shostak. “Nobody here practices their golf!” Shostak says. The researcher phones his boss and they determine that the signal has come from “another world.' In other words: aliens.Īs a real-life researcher at the SETI Institute, Shostak has some thoughts on the movie’s portrayal of their work - specifically the bored researcher playing golf while waiting for a signal. In Independence Day’s opening scenes, a researcher at SETI (an organization that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence) is lazily playing golf at the office when he receives a mysterious radio signal.

#Movie about recieving a radio signal from space movie#

Scientists do monitor signals of possible alien life, but it’s not as dramatic as the movie shows.