UCLan to insall new powerful telescope on campus which could send out a signal to ET

‘Stellar’ work by Astrophysics experts from UCLan’s Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy means that UCLan will play a pivotal role in sending out a message to potential other life forms within the Universe via a specialised radio telescope that will sit on the roof of the Student Centre.

The £10 million development follows on from other successful projects UCLan has been working on with international space agencies, including the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration.

The JHI Exoplanet Super Telescope will link to additional planned radio telescopes at Moor Park Observatory and Alston to form a powerful trio of megawatt transmitters.

The steerable telescope of 20 metres diameter will be capable of transmitting over 1 megawatt of power. It is possible that with a large antenna at the other end with a sensitive receiver, a sufficiently technologically advanced civilisation could detect Earth’s signal from halfway across the Milky Way Galaxy.

UCLan astrophysicist Dr Megan Argo, said: “This is a thrilling and bold step for astrophysics at UCLan. Although similar transmissions have been sent in the past, the most well-known one being from the Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico on 16 November 1974, technology moves on and we’re capable now of sending a much more powerful signal into deep space more easily than we could 50 years ago.

“The Arecibo message was aimed at the current location of Messier 13, about 25,000 light years from Earth, but ours will be targeted at planetary systems exhibiting frequently outbursting over-luminous signals, recently identified as most likely to be potentially habitable, by surveys such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

“The dark skies over Lancashire mean the region is a hotbed for UFO sightings. I think it's unlikely we'll find any little green men or women, but through the power of our new super telescope, we'll come one step nearer to unravelling some of the Universe's biggest secrets."

UCLan is keen to reassure the people of Preston that they have nothing to worry about when the new telescope becomes a fixture on the city’s landscape.

A hidden metallic mesh layer under the roof garden of the Student Centre was added when it was built to prepare for the addition of the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute ET Super Telescope. The mesh will act as a screen protecting people from any stray microwave radiation.

Megan added: “UCLan already has an excellent reputation for its astrophysics research. Professor Derek Ward-Thompson is part of the global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration who produced the first ever image of a black hole and Professor of Solar Physics Robert Walsh, a world-leading expert on the Sun and its interaction with Earth, has worked on several NASA projects. We even have a PhD student who recently discovered a giant arc of galaxies 9.2 billion light years away!

“I’m over the moon to lead on this ground-breaking project that will really put UCLan and Preston on the map in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.”