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Alberto Caballero (astronomer)

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Alberto Caballero is a Spanish astronomer and science communicator.[1][2] He is known for having identified a Sun-like star in the sky region where the Wow! Signal came from as one of the possible sources of the radio signal.[3][4][5][6] The finding, which was presented in 2020, draw the attention of the SETI Institute, which stated that "astronomer Alberto Caballero might have pinpointed the host star; it’s a sunlike star 1,800 light-years away, in the direction of the center of our Milky Way".[7][8][9] Yuri Milner, founder of Breakthrough Initiatives, stated that ''it’s intriguing that there’s a Sun-like star in the right place to be its source''.[10][11][12]

Caballero is also known for founding and coordinating the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project, an international effort consisting of more than 30 observatories searching for nearby potentially habitable exoplanets.[13] Data is collected 24/7 from specific stars by observatories located both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.[14] An initial list of exoplanet candidates was made public in 2020.[15]

His work was reported by the media again in 2020 after he released a spacecraft design intended for crewed interstellar travel.[16] The concept, which draws from the already proposed Bussard ramjet and laser-pushed lightsail of Robert Forward, combines some of their features by using solar propulsion for acceleration and electromagnetic force for deceleration.[17] The proposal was featured in a 2021 edition of the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight.[18]

In 2022, Caballero made a public appearance on the Spanish TV program Cuarto Milenio and highlighted that the Sun-like star he identified two years before is located only 100 light years away from the most likely distance at which we can expect to find the nearest extraterrestrial civilization according to SETI researcher Claudio Maccone.[19][20]

In a study released in 2022, Caballero estimated the number of malicious civilizations in the Milky Way as well as the probability of extraterrestrial invasion.[21][22] Results suggested the existance of less than one malicious Type-1 civilization in the Kardashev scale capable of nearby interstellar travel with a probability of invasion two orders of magnitude lower than the impact probability of a planet-killer asteroid.[23] When interviewed by the Spanish TV program Zapeando, Caballero stated that 'while around 5% of the population on Earth is psychopathic, on another planet it could be a higher percentage'.[24]

References

  1. ^ SETI Institute. "Where did the famous mystery Wow! signal, detected in 1977, come from?". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  2. ^ Choi, Charles Q. "45 years later, scientists hone in on a mysterious alien signal's origin". Inverse. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  3. ^ Caballero, Alberto (2022). "An approximation to determine the source of the WOW! Signal". International Journal of Astrobiology: 1–8. doi:10.1017/S1473550422000015. ISSN 1473-5504. S2CID 226307031.
  4. ^ "Astronomer may have detected the source of the famous extraterrestrial 'Wow!' signal". The Independent. 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  5. ^ Adam Mann (2022-05-24). "Famous 'alien' Wow! signal may have come from distant, sunlike star". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  6. ^ "Did the Wow! signal come from this star? | Space | EarthSky". earthsky.org. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  7. ^ "Where did the famous mystery Wow! signal, detected in 1977, come from?". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  8. ^ Monday, The Physics arXiv Blog | Published; November 23; 2020. "Sun-like star identified as the potential source of the Wow! Signal". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31. {{cite web}}: |last3= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Lang, Fabienne (2020). "Amateur Astronomer Finds Possible Source of Wow! Signal After 43 Years".
  10. ^ Milner, Yuri. "The famous "Wow!" signal heard by the Big Ear Radio Telescope in 1977 was probably an artefact". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  11. ^ Yirka, Bob; Phys.org. "Amateur astronomer Alberto Caballero finds possible source of Wow! signal". phys.org. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  12. ^ Young, Chris (2022). "The Wow! Signal: An amateur astronomer may have pinpointed 'alien' signal's origin".
  13. ^ "Amateur Astronomers Join Hunt for Exoplanets". www.centauri-dreams.org. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  14. ^ "Saturn-Like Exoplanet Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 3470 | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  15. ^ Andy Tomaswick (2020-07-28). "Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers". Universe Today. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  16. ^ Delbert, Caroline (2020-12-09). "The Radical Spacecraft That Could Send Humans to a Habitable Exoplanet". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  17. ^ Bergan, Brad (2020). "New Revolutionary Spacecraft Might Send Humans to Habitable Exoplanets".
  18. ^ "SpaceFlight". The British Interplanetary Society. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  19. ^ Milenio, Cuarto (2022-05-30). "'Cuarto Milenio' (29/05/22), programa completo HD". Cuatro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  20. ^ Maccone, Claudio. "An Introduction to the Statistical Drake Equation". Defense Intelligence ReferenceDocument.
  21. ^ Brandon Specktor published (2022-05-31). "4 hostile alien civilizations may lurk in the Milky Way, a new study suggests". livescience.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  22. ^ Delbert, Caroline (2022-06-07). "4 Malicious Alien Civilizations Could Live in Our Galaxy, Scientist Says". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  23. ^ Paleja, Ameya (2022). "A researcher estimates there are four malicious extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy".
  24. ^ "Un divulgador científico, de una invasión extraterrestre: "Un 5% de la población es psicópata, pero en otro planeta podría ser un porcentaje más alto"". www.lasexta.com (in Spanish). 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-06-09.

Category:Living people

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