Scientists have proposed an original way to search for highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations: it is based on the hypothesis that they use black holes as a source of energy. Scientists assume that such civilizations can exploit black holes to generate colossal amounts of energy, and hope to detect characteristic signs of such processes at a distance of up to 17,000 light years from Earth. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal.

Growing energy demand

With the ever-growing demand for energy, traditional sources are becoming limited even for our civilization. Scientists have long speculated that highly developed civilizations could build massive structures like Dyson spheres to capture the energy of stars. However, the new work considers an even more large-scale approach: using the energy generated when a black hole absorbs matter. This process can create unique signatures in the infrared and submillimeter ranges, which can already be recorded today using telescopes such as ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array).

Kardashev scale and new possibilities

The study is related to the expansion of the so-called Kardashev scale, which classifies civilizations by their level of energy consumption. In the new version of the scale, the authors also take into account the ability of civilizations to use resources outside their home planet. Civilizations that have learned to use black holes as energy sources are presumably at the highest stage of development. This implies the construction of megastructures around black holes to effectively extract their energy.

Modern technologies for searching

Modern technologies already allow scientists to search for traces of such processes. For example, telescopes are able to detect energy anomalies that may indicate artificial use of energy at distances of up to 5.4 kiloparsecs, which corresponds to 17 thousand light years.

Prospects and significance of the discovery

The researchers note that although their idea requires further verification, the current level of technology already opens up possibilities for searching. If such megastructures are discovered, this will be an important scientific discovery and, perhaps, the first step towards contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.