Technosignature or technomarker is any measurable property or effect that provides scientific evidence of past or present technology.[1][2] Technosignatures are analogous to biosignatures, which signal the presence of life, whether intelligent or not.[1][3] Some authors prefer to exclude radio transmissions from the definition,[4] but such restrictive usage is not widespread. Jill Tarter has proposed that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) be renamed "the search for technosignatures".[1] Various types of technosignatures, such as radiation leakage from megascale astroengineering installations such as Dyson spheres, the light from an extraterrestrial ecumenopolis, or Shkadov thrusters with the power to alter the orbits of stars around the Galactic Center, may be detectable with hypertelescopes. Some examples of technosignatures are described in Paul Davies's 2010 book The Eerie Silence, although the terms "technosignature" and "technomarker" do not appear in the book.
In February 2023, astronomers reported, after scanning 820 stars, the detection of 8 possible technosignatures for follow-up studies.[5]
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
tarter-2018was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
UT-2018was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Frank, Adam (31 December 2020). "A new frontier is opening in the search for extraterrestrial life - The reason we haven't found life elsewhere in the universe is simple: We haven't really looked until now". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ Almár, Iván (2011). "SETI and astrobiology: The Rio Scale and the London Scale". Acta Astronautica. 69 (9–10): 899–904. Bibcode:2011AcAau..69..899A. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2011.05.036.(subscription required)
- ^ Ma, Peter Xiangyuan; et al. (30 November 2022). "A deep-learning search for technosignatures of 820 nearby stars" (PDF). Nature Astronomy. Retrieved 11 February 2023.