In a new study, planetary scientists determined what extraterrestial aliens might see if they were peering at Earth through telescopes. The researchers, from MIT, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and University of Florida, based their analysis on telescope technology expected to become available in the next few years. Even with those systems, designed to find extra solar planet, Earth would be represented just by a single pixel of light when viewed from another world outside our solar system. From the MIT News Office:
According to their analysis, among other things E.T. could probably tell that our planet’s surface is divided between oceans and continents, and learn a little bit about the dynamics of our weather systems.
“Maybe somebody’s looking at us right now, finding out what our rotation rate is — that is, the length of our day,” says Sara Seager, associate professor of physics and the Ellen Swallow Richards Associate Professor of Planetary Sciences at MIT…
“The goal of [our] project was to see how much information you can extract” from very limited data, Seager says. The team’s conclusion: a great deal of information about a planet can be gleaned from that single pixel and the way it changes over time…