On: TRAPPIST-1 Is Older Than Our Solar System

[devrandomguy]

I think we're a bit too late for radio silence. Even if our comms are indistinguishable from noise at that distance, I bet our previously detonated nukes would have sent distinctive pulses across the near cosmos.

I wonder, does SETI look for signs of alien nuclear wars?

[DougWebb → devrandomguy]

Someone else can figure out the math, but I'm pretty sure the energy from all of the nukes that have been detonated, especially if you only count the open-air ones, is minuscule compared to what the sun gives off. That would mask any possible detection. I wouldn't be surprised if just the solar radiation that the earth reflects is enough to mask the nuclear blasts, unless you're viewing them from right inside the solar system.

[kobeya → DougWebb]

The spectral signature would be quite different.

[mirimir → devrandomguy]

In Pellegrino and Zebrowski's The Killing Star, it's the know-it-all attitude in Star Trek that seals our fate.

[therein → devrandomguy]

What kind of unique signs would a nuclear explosion create? Doesn't nuclear fission occur naturally?

[kobeya → therein]

Not really? Only in very rare exceptions. At least if you're talking about chain reaction fission.

[CamperBob2 → devrandomguy]

Those gamma-ray bursts have to be coming from somewhere, I guess.

[labster → CamperBob2]

Gamma ray bursts are from interplanetary war? That's a terrifying thought.

[CamperBob2 → labster]

My pet conjecture has always been that they're the interstellar equivalent of "Hold my beer and watch this..."