{"id":3923610,"date":"2026-01-19T19:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/extraterrestrials-may-be-spying-on-earth-from-a-nearby-location-in-the-milky-way\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T19:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:06:06","slug":"extraterrestrials-may-be-spying-on-earth-from-a-nearby-location-in-the-milky-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/extraterrestrials-may-be-spying-on-earth-from-a-nearby-location-in-the-milky-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Extraterrestrials may be spying on Earth from a nearby location in the Milky Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For just a moment, consider that we aren\u2019t alone in the universe and other life forms exist beyond the Milky Way and Earth, which is the only place advanced life forms have so far been found.<\/p>\n

If there are extraterrestrials somewhere in the universe, maybe they saw the dawn of man in this planet and decided they\u2019d watch our progress. How would they have done so?<\/p>\n

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\"alien
Extraterrestrials may have been watching us since the dawn of man on Earth (Via Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A eye-opening new article from LiveScience<\/em><\/a> lays out the following scenario:<\/p>\n

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\u201cA hundred million years ago, an advanced civilization detects strange signatures of life<\/u><\/a>\u00a0on a blue-green planet not so far away from their home in the Milky Way. They try sending signals, but whatever\u2019s marching around on that unknown world isn\u2019t responding. So, the curious galactic explorers try something different. They send a robotic probe to a small, quiet space rock orbiting near the life-rich planet, just to keep an eye on things.<\/p>\n

If a story like this played out at any moment in Earth\u2019s 4.5 billion-year history, it just might have left an archaeological record. At least, that\u2019s the hope behind a new proposal to check Earth\u2019s so-called co-orbitals for signs of\u00a0advanced alien technology<\/u><\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Are we being watched by aliens? (Via Kevin Gill\/Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
What\u2019s Exactly is a Co-Orbital?<\/h5>\n

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Co-orbitals are space objects \u2014 planets, moons, even space rocks \u2014 that orbit the sun at approximately the same distance as Earth, James Benford, a physicist and independent SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re basically going around the sun at the same rate the Earth is, and they\u2019re very nearby.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was Benford who suggested his theory of alien<\/a> surveillance at a conference in Houston last year:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf he\u2019s right, the co-orbitals could be a way to detect alien activity that occurred before humans even evolved, much less turned their attention toward the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Milky Way and Earth may be under surveillance (Via Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not everyone \u2014 including fellow SETI<\/a> researchers \u2014 is on board with Benford\u2019s controversial theory. One of them is Paul Davies, a physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, who says he still thinks we have an obligation to check out all of the co-orbitals just to be sure:<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow likely is it that alien probe would be on one of these co-orbitals, obviously extremely unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if it costs very little to go take a look, why not? Even if we don\u2019t find E.T., we might find something of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Finding the Bugs<\/h5>\n

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Operating from the premise that extraterrestrials are indeed watching us, all we have to do is find the hidden bugs. How would that be done? Dr. Benford has a suggestion<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cEarth\u2019s closest star other than the sun right now is Alpha Centauri, 4.37 light-years away. But every half million years or so, a star comes within about a light-year of Earth, Benford said, meaning that hundreds or thousands of stars (and their possible attendant planets) have been close enough to our planet during Earth\u2019s long history to make contact. Long-ago aliens may have observed nothing more exciting than photosynthesizing bacteria, or dinosaurs if they were lucky. But their probes could still be sitting on the co-orbital surface. \u201c\u2018This is essentially extraterrestrial archaeology I\u2019m talking about,\u2019 Benford said.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Related: Scientists call for testing new uncontaminated Moon rock samples for extraterrestrial life<\/a><\/p>\n

\"et
This little guy may be watching our every move. (Via Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benford suggests we need to use optical and radio telescopes as well as pinging co-orbitals with planetary radar to see if his theory is confirmed. Sending small spacecrafts would also be feasible and not too expensive, he adds. China is already planning to send a spacecraft to explore a near-Earth asteroid and an odd rock in the asteroid belt as soon at 2022:<\/p>\n

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\u201cSeeking signs of intelligent extraterrestrials close to Earth is informative even if the search comes up empty, Benford said. That no one\u2019s heard or seen any extraterrestrial signals in 50 years or so doesn\u2019t mean much, given the mind-boggling time span of Earth\u2019s history. A lack of evidence spanning hundreds, millions or even billions of years would be much more convincing.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018If we don\u2019t find anything, that means no one has come to look at the life of Earth for over billions of years,\u2019 Benford said. \u201c\u2018That is a big surprise, a stunning thing.’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Other surprises may await us once our search begins. All the more reason to see what we can find.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence):<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QqC3VbDDEHQ<\/p>\n

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Featured Image Via Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Go to Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

For just a moment, consider that we aren\u2019t alone in the universe and other life forms exist beyond the Milky Way and Earth, which is the only place advanced life forms have so far been found.<\/p>\n

If there are extraterrestrials somewhere in the universe, maybe they saw the dawn of man in this planet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3923610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-code","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3923610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3923610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3923610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3923610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}