© Royal Astronomical Society
New research suggests that radar systems used at airports and by the military might be showing our presence to any advanced alien civilizations.
The study looked at how these hidden radio signals could appear to aliens living up to 200 light-years away—if they had powerful radio telescopes similar to ours. It also hints that this is about how far we might be able to detect alien life if they use similar technology.
Early findings, shared at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham, show that major airports like Heathrow, Gatwick, and JFK in New York give off strong signals that could be noticed from far away in space.
Researchers simulated how radar signals spread out from Earth and tested whether they’d be visible from nearby stars, such as Barnard’s Star and AU Microscopii.
They found that the radar systems scanning the skies for planes emit about 2×10¹⁵ watts of radio energy—enough for telescopes like the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to detect them from 200 light-years away.
source Royal Astronomical Society
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