Image: NASA
The SETI Institute could benefit from moving their operations down to the Southern Hemisphere. That is because a recent study published by a group of researchers at Penn State and Columbia University have uncovered the likely location of the oldest and most advanced space-faring civilizations in our galaxy.
Last month, results from computer simulations guided by a powerful artificial intelligence algorithm pinpointed our galactic core as the place to look for our cosmic ancestors. According to the paper published in The American Astronomical Society, it is expected that technological species arising out of the primordial maelstrom of galactic centers will begin their space exploration activities by first populating planets near them before working their way out of the cosmic cradle in a radial fashion.
Assuming very modest means of travel comparable to our own, galaxy core colonists are expected to completely settle habitable planets near them within 100,000 years after their arrival on such worlds. At this rate, the computer model shows an exponential explosion of civilizations inhabiting many of the prime locations in our galaxy in the expanse of a billion years or so. Considering that the Milky Way has been around for more than 13 billion years, it is not too far-fetched to assume that our best chances of observing technosignatures lie in the direction of Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius - all southern sky constellations.
By pointing our instruments to the brightest and probably the most busiest places in our cosmic neighborhood, we might stand a chance of actually catching a glimpse of some of the 'alien' action that is currently taking place in our galactic downtown.