Detecting Alien Asteroid Miners

In what is starting to become a familiar theme, researchers have speculated on what types of observational data from distant planetary systems might indicate the presence of an alien civilization, in this case asteroid mining – but end up concluding that most of the effects of such activity would be difficult to distinguish from natural phenomena.

And in any case, aren't we just anthropomorphizing by assuming that intelligent alien activity will be anything like human activity?

Currently – apart from a radio, or other wavelength, transmission carrying artificial and presumably intelligent content – it's thought that indicators of the presence of an alien civilization might include:

• Atmospheric pollutants, like chlorofluorocarbons – which, unlike methane or molecular oxygen, are clearly manufactured rather than just biogenically produced

• Propulsion signatures – remember how the Vulcans detected humanity in First Contact (or at least they decided we were worth visiting after all, despite all the I Love Lucy re-runs)

• Stellar engineering – where a star's lifetime is artificially extended to maintain the habitable zone of its planetary system

• Dyson spheres – or at least their more plausible off-shoots, such as Dyson swarms.

And perhaps add to this list – asteroid mining, which would potentially create a lot of dust and debris around a star on a scale that might be detectable from Earth.…

See Universe Today for links to further info.