Alberto Caballero (astronomer)

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Alberto Caballero
Bornc. 1991
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalitySpanish
Alma materUniversity of Vigo

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] 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.[5] Data is collected 24/7 from specific stars by observatories located both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and an initial list of exoplanet candidates was made public in 2020.[6]

Work

Caballero's candidate for the Wow! signal was presented in 2020.[7][8] The star is regarded as the most similar to the Sun out of the three solar analogs found inside the sky region.[9][10] It has a temperature, radius, and luminosity similar to the Sun.[11][12] The finding drew the attention of the SETI Institute, which stated that "astronomer Alberto Caballero might have pinpointed the host star", whereas 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''.[13]

As a response to the finding, in May 2022 Breakthrough Listen conducted the first targeted search for the Wow! Signal in its first collaboration between the Green Bank Telescope and the SETI Institute.[14][15] The observations lasted 1 hour from Greenbank, 35 minutes from the Allen Telescope Array, and 10 minutes simultaneously.[16] No technosignature candidates were found.[17]

His work was reported by the media again in 2020 after he released a spacecraft design intended for crewed interstellar travel.[18][19] 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.[20] The proposal was featured in a 2021 edition of the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight.[21]

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.[22][23]

In a study released in 2022, he estimated the number of malicious civilizations in the Milky Way as well as the probability of extraterrestrial invasion.[24][25] Results suggested the existence 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.[26] 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'.[27]

Personal life

Caballero was born in Edinburgh in 1991.[28][failed verification] He spent his childhood in the capital of Scotland until his family moved to Vigo, a Spanish city on the north-Atlantic west coast of the country.[29] Caballero studied criminology at the University of Santiago de Compostela, and conflict resolution at the University of Vigo, in Spain.[30] He became interested in astronomy at a young age, and in 2017 he started a YouTube channel intended for scientific dissemination and to present his research to the public. Two years later, in 2019, he became involved in the coordination of astronomical observatories. Caballero also uses one of his hobbies, day trading, to fund the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.[31]

References

  1. ^ Choi, Charles Q. "45 years later, scientists hone in on a mysterious alien signal's origin". Inverse. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Astronomer may have detected the source of the famous extraterrestrial 'Wow!' signal". The Independent. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  3. S2CID 226307031
    .
  4. ^ Adam Mann (24 May 2022). "Famous 'alien' Wow! signal may have come from distant, sunlike star". Space.com. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  5. ^ Tomaswick, Andy (28 July 2020). "Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers". Universe Today. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Saturn-Like Exoplanet Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 3470". Sci-News.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Did the Wow! signal come from this star? | Space | EarthSky". earthsky.org. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Sun-like star identified as the potential source of the Wow! Signal". Astronomy.com. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  9. ^ Young, Chris (2022). "The Wow! Signal: An amateur astronomer may have pinpointed 'alien' signal's origin". Interesting Engineering.
  10. ^ Yirka, Bob. "Amateur astronomer Alberto Caballero finds possible source of Wow! signal". phys.org. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  11. S2CID 236034408
    .
  12. ^ Lang, Fabienne (2020). "Amateur Astronomer Finds Possible Source of Wow! Signal After 43 Years". Interesting Engineering.
  13. ^ "Breakthrough Initiatives". breakthroughinitiatives.org. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  14. ^ "1st Coordinated Green Bank Telescope/Allen Telescope Array Observes Possible Source of the WOW! Signal". SETI Institute.
  15. S2CID 252540293
    .
  16. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (7 November 2022). "No signs of alien life found near source of famous 'Wow!' signal". Space.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Breakthrough Listen Search for the WOW! Signal". seti.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  18. S2CID 220686763
    .
  19. ^ Delbert, Caroline (9 December 2020). "The Radical Spacecraft That Could Send Humans to a Habitable Exoplanet". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  20. ^ Bergan, Brad (2020). "New Revolutionary Spacecraft Might Send Humans to Habitable Exoplanets". Interesting Engineering.
  21. ^ "SpaceFlight". The British Interplanetary Society. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  22. ^ Milenio, Cuarto (30 May 2022). "'Cuarto Milenio' (29/05/22), programa completo HD". Cuatro (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  23. ^ Maccone, Claudio. "An Introduction to the Statistical Drake Equation". Defense Intelligence ReferenceDocument.
  24. ^ Specktor, Brandon (31 May 2022). "4 hostile alien civilizations may lurk in the Milky Way, a new study suggests". livescience.com. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  25. ^ Delbert, Caroline (7 June 2022). "4 Malicious Alien Civilizations Could Live in Our Galaxy, Scientist Says". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  26. ^ Paleja, Ameya (2022). "A researcher estimates there are four malicious extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy". Interesting Engineering.
  27. ^ "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). 7 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  28. ^ "Sun-like star identified in the region where the Wow! Signal originated". Space Daily. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  29. ^ "There Could Be Up To Four 'Hostile' Civilizations In Our Galaxy". Cosmoknowledge. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  30. ^ White, Steven (2 August 2022). "Four 'malicious' alien civilisations may live inside our Milky Way". mirror. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  31. ^ Williams, Matt (15 June 2022). "There Could Be Four Hostile Civilizations in the Milky Way". Universe Today. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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