Recently, a group of rocky celestial bodies was discovered near the Earth. These are the so-called co-orbital objects. We are talking about "quasi-satellites", several asteroids that, like the Moon, revolve in orbits around our planet, accompanying it during its journey around the Sun. At the moment, it is known about the existence of nine quasi-satellites of the Earth, but there may be more.
According to an article recently published in the Astronomical Journal by scientist James Benford, these small, dark celestial bodies, difficult to study, are perfect for other extraterrestrial civilizations to observe the Earth. This is the ideal place for "spy" probes that can be set up there to spy on us since time immemorial.
In addition, once a year, quasi-satellites approach our planet at a very close distance, much less than any other celestial body besides the Moon. In addition, they have the same orbital period as the Earth, so this is a great place to monitor our planet from a natural, nearby and reliable object. According to Benford, such co-orbiting satellites have a wide variety of resources that can be useful to extraterrestrial spies: materials, solar energy, a strong position and, above all, an ideal place to hide.
Observers
Until now, astronomers have not carefully studied quasi-satellites, and none of the SETI programs, an organization that searches for intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, in any way affected them in their research. Therefore, Benford proposes to conduct a series of observations of these objects in order to find out if there are alien probes on them. He warns that these devices may be very ancient, perhaps they were created even before the appearance of man.
Benford calls these hypothetical devices "observers." Thus, the observer is a hidden tracking probe that we did not previously know about and which we did not notice at all. Perhaps the intentions of their creators were bad. And with almost complete confidence, we can say that they will be robotic, like our research probes, for example, Voyager or New Horizons.
According to Benford, these spy robots could have been sent to observe the Earth a long time ago, and perhaps many of them have already run out of energy sources, therefore, to find them, it will be necessary to conduct real "archaeological excavations in space." As the scientist said, if after studying the quasi-satellites we do not find anything, it will mean that no one tried to follow life on Earth. This is despite the fact that the existence of life on our planet would be obvious (thanks to the characteristic spectral lines of our atmosphere) for any extraterrestrial observer who has explored this part of the cosmos over the past billion years.
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purpose
Benford believes that quasi-satellites are very interesting objects for the SETI organization due to the fact that they are located at close range. The scientist is convinced that we must investigate these celestial bodies as soon as possible using the electromagnetic spectrum of microwave radiation and light, and with the help of radars. We can even send probes to them. The best option is asteroid 2016 HO3, the smallest, closest and most stable quasi-satellite Earth known to date. So far, only China has announced its intention to send a space probe there.
José Manuel Nieves
