Astronomers were stunned to spot hundreds of distant stars across the galaxy which appear to be “blinking”. The shock discovery was made by researchers who believe the blinking lights, which they have dubbed “red transients” could be “natural, if somewhat extreme, astrophysical sources”. But after observing 100 stars which seem to blink sporadically across 50 years’ worth of data, experts are yet to establish a natural explanation for the bizarre space activity.
This has led to theories of alien activity, who could be using the stars to communicate with other civilisations across the cosmos.
The team wrote in a report published in the Astronomical Journal: “The implications of finding such objects extend from traditional astrophysics fields to the more exotic searches for evidence of technologically advanced civilisations.”
Another possible explanation other than intergalactic communication could be alien megastructures, or Dyson Spheres – a structure which surrounds a star which harnesses all of its energy to provide limitless energy for a civilisation.
Of the 150,000 possible star candidates, researchers from the “Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations” (VASCO) project believe 100 stars appear to be blinking.
However, with such a vast amount of stellar objects to observe in the sky, the team are opening the research up to the public who will be able to help out.
Lars Mattsson of Stockholm University said: “We hope to get help from the community to look through the images as a part of a citizen science project.
“We are looking at ways to do that right now and that will be something we will be able to talk more about at a later date.”
However, it may not be the smartest idea to hunt for aliens if previous predictions are anything to go by.
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“Meeting a more advanced civilisation, at our present stage, might be a bit like the original inhabitants of America meeting Columbus – and I don’t think they thought they were better off for it.”
Olle Häggström, a professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers University and author of the existential risk book Here Be Dragons, said an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation could see humanity as a threat and destroy us.
Mr Häggström told Bryan Walsh, author of the new book End Times which analyses the existential threats which humanity faces: “There are optimists who say that good things can come out of establishing communications.
“We could learn wonderful things from them.
“But an extraterrestrial civilisation of very advanced technology might be a threat – and they may want to get rid of us before we become a threat to them.
“There are real evolutionary-style arguments pointing int that direction.
“Maybe we would be better off observing exoplanets for ten or 20 years until we’re in a better position to assess the risk of communication. The risk is too great.”