Strange radio signals from Ross128

You can't even pick up our TV shows from Jupiter. That was one of the major science fails in Contact - inverse square is a bitch.

I guess this pic is incorrect then..

Yes, though it's certainly a fun thought.

Only the active SETI broadcasts can be detected from outside the solar system, and they are directed, so only by those solar systems they are directed towards, and most of those have a very limited reach as well (in addition to being all under 50 years old).

Similarly, we aren't going to pick up any broadcasts from any alien civilizations unless they are deliberately aimed at us. (And it seems unlikely that one would try aiming such messages out to planets in this sparsely populated rim of the galaxy - better to try your luck somewhere you could cover a reasonable number of opportunities.)

At best, very nearby neighbors might notice a planet in the habitable zone with some tell-tale chemical markers in its light bands indicating the possible presence industry, though they'd have to have quite a bit better observational capacity than us.

Really, there could be a civilization with the same radio output as our planet in this same solar system, and we could still easily miss it.

Maybe it's silicon based.

>ducking

>Single female lawyer,
>Working for her clients!
>Wearing sexy mini-skirts and being self-reliant!

>And it seems unlikely that one would try aiming such messages out to planets in this sparsely populated rim of the galaxy

Time would be a bigger factor than density of the area of the galaxy -- if you live near us, we're one of the ones you'll try because you want an answer before you go extinct.

>Really, there could be a civilization with the same radio output as our planet in this same solar system, and we could still easily miss it.

This seems unlikely -- we can detect signals from one of our probes among the outer planets, but we'd miss an entire civilization's worth of radio noise.

>Could they watch our TV shows from Ross 128?
>Probs not. You need a very strong and focused signal to get it out 11 light years.

the thing is we've been doing exactly that by beaming very focused signals in the 6ghz and 14ghz bands for a while. We beam signals to the geosynchronous satellites for cable, dish, direct TV etc... '
so much of space that is in the "equitorial" region has been hit by these beams. Keep in mind that because of the rotation of the Earth these beams would sweep the heavens and appear very brief to a distant observer.

Those are directed beams of very specific frequencies, that, even though directed, would be impossible to find without knowing exactly what you were looking for.

Granted, the fact that we've done close flybys of nearly every rocky celestial body, and landed on a few, does reduce the odds of missing such a thing considerably - but searching for radio broadcasts alone, ya'd find nadda.

Suffice to say, communication companies don't pump the kind of power and modulation into those beams that you need to beat the law of inverse square at 11 light years out at those frequencies. One doesn't "accidentally" call ET.