Astronomers have found a “perfect place” not far from the Earth, from which representatives of other civilizations can observe our planet.
In his work, the American physicist James Benford made a very bold assumption that some “observers” have been watching our planet from the outside for millions of years.
It looks like a script for a sci-fi movie, however, unlike many other conspiracy theorists, Benford’s work relies on concepts that the SETI program has developed over the years – its activities are aimed primarily at the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Back in 1960, Stanford radiophysicist Ronald Bracewell pioneered the idea that “higher galactic communities” could scatter autonomous interstellar probes throughout space as “hypothetical tentacles” that allow observing, controlling, and possibly even communicating with other life forms in including on Earth.
“A probe located near our planet can wait until our civilization develops the technology that can find it. After that, its creators will get in touch and may even be able to communicate with humanity in real time,” explains Benford.
However, until now, scientists have no real proof of the existence of such tracking systems. Benford, on the other hand, analyzed and suggested the ideal location for such a “probe” to place an observation post.
In his work, he notes that it would be extremely convenient for such long-lived mechanisms to track from a special type of near-Earth rock objects, which astronomers call “co-orbital”.
As the name suggests, these quasi-satellites of the Earth make orbital “loops” around the Sun, similar to the planet’s own orbit. This happens in the immediate vicinity of the Earth, since all such objects are gravitationally connected with it.
To date, astronomers have managed to find only a few of these objects. The closest to Earth, known as 2016 HO3, is a small asteroid that NASA describes as “Earth’s permanent satellite.”
As you may have guessed, the elusive, small and yet permanent satellites of our planet are a great place in which a reconnaissance drone could hide.
The physicist claims that they need to be examined for electromagnetic radiation and visited with the help of earth probes, since it is relatively close to fly to them. Of course, in addition to searching for aliens, such projects have considerable scientific value.
Benford’s dreams are likely to come true soon: not so long ago, China has already announced plans to launch an ambitious mission 10 years long. Among other things, it will include visiting 2016 HO3 and collecting samples of its constituent rock – a great way to see for yourself if there are traces of alien activity on it.
