If signals from extraterrestrial civilizations ever reach Earth, the aliens themselves will more likely be already non-existent.
Attempting to update the so-called Drake equation from 1961, which is virtually the formula for predicting how many detectable civilizations exist in the Milky Way galaxy, a number of researcher, physicist Claudio Grimaldi, determined and made estimates of the part of the galaxy that should be filled with alien signals at a concrete point in time, ScienceNews magazine wrote.
It was earlier found that technologically savvy civilizations are born and die at a regular pace. When a civilization ceases to exist and stops broadcasting whatsoever, the signals still linger there like “ghosts.” Part of the Milky Way is supposed to feature these ghost signals, researchers say.
Most notably, if the civilization lived for less than 100,000 years, which is the time it takes light to cross the galaxy, then Earth stands a really miniscule chance of intercepting signals of the still broadcasting civilization, the researchers found.
Surprisingly, the research group also calculated that the average number of extraterrestrial signals crossing Earth at a given time should match the number of civilizations that are currently emitting signals.