Artificial Light or Heat

A technologically advanced civilization will likely emit heat and/or light as a product of industrialization. Civilizations which expand across the termperate surfaces of their worlds will probably employ nighttime artificial illumination, and as their energy needs increase may rely on orbital solar arrays to harvest sunlight beyond night's meridian. Conversely, civilizations which develop underground or in oceans may have no need for surface illumination, depending instead on geothermal or hydrothermal power and thus posing a greater challenge for remote sensing.

Industrialization also generates a proportional amount of waste heat, and urbanization can further raise temperatures, particularly when artificial surfaces fail to... More

A technologically advanced civilization will likely emit heat and/or light as a product of industrialization. Civilizations which expand across the termperate surfaces of their worlds will probably employ nighttime artificial illumination, and as their energy needs increase may rely on orbital solar arrays to harvest sunlight beyond night's meridian. Conversely, civilizations which develop underground or in oceans may have no need for surface illumination, depending instead on geothermal or hydrothermal power and thus posing a greater challenge for remote sensing.

Industrialization also generates a proportional amount of waste heat, and urbanization can further raise temperatures, particularly when artificial surfaces fail to efficiently dissipate sunlight or are impervious to precipitation, a climatological phenomenon known as the "urban heat island" effect. This excess thermal output is emitted as infrared radiation.

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Detectability

  • A sufficient amount of artificial light on the dark side of a spinning exoplanet is potentially observable in the planet's light signature.
  • Similarly, an unusual amount of waste heat, if observed in tandem with other indicators of industrialization, would be a potential indicator of a technologically advanced civilization.
  • More broadly, an unusually high amount of aggregate infrared radiation from a specific region of space could be a potential indicator of interplanetary industry.

Research

19-Jan-2023
21-Sep-2022
22-Aug-2022
Acta Astronautica
31-May-2022
21-Mar-2022
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
21-Mar-2022
Acta Astronautica
14-Aug-2021
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
15-Jul-2021
20-May-2021
2-Mar-2021
(19-Jan-2023)
(21-Sep-2022)
(22-Aug-2022)
Acta Astronautica
(31-May-2022)
(21-Mar-2022)
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
(21-Mar-2022)
Acta Astronautica
(14-Aug-2021)
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
(15-Jul-2021)
Thomas G. Beatty (20-May-2021)
Hector Socas-Navarro, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Jason T. Wright et al. (2-Mar-2021)