Identifying a star system that hosts a technologically advanced form of life may be much easier than previously thought. Scientists suggest looking for anomalous systems in which more than two planets are in the so-called horseshoe orbit.
This is stated in a study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Researchers believe that the planetary anomaly will be more real than the appearance of the Dyson Sphere (more about it – you can read here) – megastructures around the star.
Previously, it was believed that the appearance of such a Sphere may indicate the existence of a highly developed race of aliens, but scientists believe that they have found a slightly more interesting and simple option.
What is a horseshoe orbit
They suggest that instead of building an object that collects the energy of a star, aliens can move the number of planets they need to the required distance to the star and get the same result.
The moons Janus and Epimetheus circle around Saturn, performing an amazing dance every four years. As the scientists explain, from a technical point of view, both satellites are in the same orbit around the planet, but one moves almost 50 km closer to the planet and has a higher speed.
If Janus moves closer to the planet in an inner orbit, then after about 4 years it catches up with Epimetheus and an interesting interaction occurs between them.
The closer the satellites are to each other, the stronger the gravitational interaction between them. When they finally meet, Janus slows down Epimetheus, causing him to “fall” into the inner orbit, and Epimetheus, in turn, speeds up Janus, pushing him into the outer orbit.
Four years later, everything repeats itself and the satellites change places again.
According to scientists, to an outside observer, it looks like the closer one from the satellites is turning around and moving in the opposite direction, supposedly cruising in a U-shaped orbit, or a horseshoe.
Such an orbit was of great interest to scientists, so they performed simulations to determine how many objects could be in such an orbit. As it turned out, without extraneous interference more than two – they cannot.
“A horseshoe-shaped system of two planets can form in nature. This happens from time to time in our planet formation simulations,” Sean Raymond, an astronomer from the University of Bordeaux, told Inverse.
But astronomers have never found systems with more than two planets in horseshoe orbits, either in simulations or in real life. Based on this, the researchers suggested that if astronomers ever see more than two planets in a horseshoe orbit, then they see the creation of another civilization and such a star system should immediately become a target for the search for life outside the solar system.
“Any horseshoe system is either unnatural or a startlingly cold result of planetary formation. Either way, it’s extremely interesting,” Raymond said.
In their simulations, the scientists placed 24 planets in horseshoe orbits in one orbit around the star and found that they could coexist even for billions of years.
Earlier, GLOBAL HAPPENINGS also said that “interstellar invaders” stuck in a trap could circle the Earth.
Source: Obozrevatel
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