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b'Alien \'Lurkers\' Could Be Covertly Watching Us From Space, Physicist Says
Link: https://www.sciencealert.com/alien-lurkers-could-be-covertly-watching-us-from-space-physicist-says

They\'re called \'lurkers\', and they may have been covertly surveilling us from space for millions of years \\u2013 since before we even existed, perhaps. That\'s the bold proposal being made in a new scientific paper by American physicist James Benford.

In 1960, Stanford radiophysicist Ronald Bracewell first suggested the idea that "superior galactic communities" could disperse autonomous interstellar probes as "hypothetical feelers" throughout space in order to observe, monitor, and maybe even communicate with other life-forms, including those on Earth.

"A probe located nearby could bide its time while our civilisation developed technology that could find it, and, once contacted, could undertake a conversation in real time," Benford explains in his new paper.

In his new paper, the physicist says such hidden, long-lived robotic lurkers would do well to set up their stakeout on a class of rocky near-Earth objects (NEO) called co-orbital objects.

Only a small number of such objects has ever been found by astronomers. The closest known one to Earth, called 2016 HO3, is a small asteroid described by NASA as "Earth\'s constant companion".

"2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the Sun," NASA NEO researcher Paul Chodas explained in 2016.

"These near-Earth objects provide an ideal way to watch our world from a secure natural object," his paper explains.

"That provides resources an ETI might need: materials, a firm anchor, and concealment."

Because of this possibility \\u2013 and the fact that co-orbitals are indeed so close to Earth \\u2013 the physicist argues investigating them should be a priority for SETI astronomers.

"We should move forthrightly toward observing them, both by observing them in the electromagnetic spectrum and planetary radar, as well as visiting them with probes," Benford writes.

China has already announced plans to launch an ambitious 10-year mission that would include visiting and collecting samples from 2016 HO3: a perfect opportunity to see up close if there\'s anything funny (or alien-y) about Earth\'s constant companion.


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