Our Earth is surrounded by a huge bubble of space debris. If you look at the map showing all the man-made objects that are now in orbit, it will become clear that not two or three fragments of missiles or satellites are flying over our heads. Well, there is just a giant dump up there! This rather sad fact prompted astronomer Hector Sokas-Navarro to an interesting idea, which he shared with the readers of the scientific edition of the Astrophysical Journal.
Navarro works at the Institute of Astophysics in the Canary Islands and studies the sun most of his time. The more satellites appear in the Earth's orbit, the more opaque this “bubble” of debris and operating spacecraft becomes. The scientist suggested that technologically advanced aliens entering the space age would also first send many spaceships and satellites into orbit, which would form a belt that could leave a mark on the parent star's light curve during transit.
The debris surrounding the planet Navarro called the Clark belt and conducted a number of studies, according to which a ten-meter telescope operating in the infrared range is quite capable of registering artificial debris around Proxima b (if any). The same telescope can see the Clark Belt around most of the TRAPPIST-1 planets - TRAPPIST-1d, -e and -f.
But with planets similar to Earth, things are not so simple. If it revolves around a star like the Sun, modern instruments will not yet be able to discern traces of extraterrestrial civilization around it. Given the pace of development of modern technology, sufficiently advanced telescopes capable of this will be able to detect the Clark's belt in orbit of another planet, similar to Earth, in 200 years, not earlier.
The only problem with detecting aliens this way is that space debris can easily be confused with natural rings that surround a potentially habitable planet. But Navarro is confident that follow-up observations will help distinguish one from the other, and research on the planet itself can help solve the problem.
Viacheslav Larionov
