The mysterious comet, identified last year as the second ever known interstellar object in our solar system, inevitably raises big scientific questions.
Chief among them: what if she can tell us anything at all about the supposed existence of extraterrestrial intelligence in space?
Well, if the object known as 2I / Borisov holds the secrets of the aliens, they remain secrets for now. A recent announcement by scientists as part of the Breakthrough Listen project shows that scanning the comet has not found any signs of technosignatures that we could identify that would indicate the presence of advanced, intelligent life.
News released by SETI (Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting this month highlights the nearly overwhelming number of unknowns and variables that are challenging SETI researchers.
Scanning objects like 2I / Borisov in search of evidence of alien technology may not seem like a scientific approach, but scientists are completely unbiased when it comes to investigating these mysterious interstellar intruders.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) announced this month that it will partner with the SETI Institute to expand the capabilities of NRAO's radio telescopes.
Whether these new forces will finally help uncover the existence of distant alien technology – or simply provide more examples of where there are no aliens – is impossible to say right now.
Sources: Photo: Gemini Observatory / NSF / AURA
