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Alberto Caballero (astronomer)

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Alberto Caballero
Born
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][5] 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.[6] Data is collected 24/7 from specific stars by observatories located both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.[7] An initial list of exoplanet candidates was made public in 2020.[8]

Work

Caballero's candidate for the Wow! Signal was presented in 2020.[9][10][11] The star found has a temperature, radius, and luminosity similar to the Sun.[12][13] The finding draw the attention of the SETI Institute, which stated that "astronomer Alberto Caballero might have pinpointed the host star; a sunlike star 1,800 light-years away, in the direction of the center of our Milky Way".[14] 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''.[15] A SETI search was requested to look for potentially habitable exoplanets and techno-signatures around the star.[16][17]

File:Caballero spacecraft.png
Electromagnetic solar-propelled spacecraft concept

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 existance 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] 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, in Spain. 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 founded the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project and became invoved in the coordination of astronomical observatories. Caballero also uses one of his hobbies, day trading, to fund the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.[30]

References

  1. ^ SETI Institute. "Where did the famous mystery Wow! signal, detected in 1977, come from?". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  2. ^ Choi, Charles Q. "45 years later, scientists hone in on a mysterious alien signal's origin". Inverse. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  3. ^ Caballero, Alberto (2022). "An approximation to determine the source of the WOW! Signal". International Journal of Astrobiology: 1–8. doi:10.1017/S1473550422000015. ISSN 1473-5504. S2CID 226307031.
  4. ^ "Astronomer may have detected the source of the famous extraterrestrial 'Wow!' signal". The Independent. 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  5. ^ Adam Mann (2022-05-24). "Famous 'alien' Wow! signal may have come from distant, sunlike star". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  6. ^ "Amateur Astronomers Join Hunt for Exoplanets". www.centauri-dreams.org. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  7. ^ "Saturn-Like Exoplanet Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 3470 | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  8. ^ Andy Tomaswick (2020-07-28). "Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers". Universe Today. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  9. ^ "Did the Wow! signal come from this star? | Space | EarthSky". earthsky.org. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  10. ^ Monday, The Physics arXiv Blog | Published; November 23; 2020. "Sun-like star identified as the potential source of the Wow! Signal". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31. {{cite web}}: |last3= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Yirka, Bob; Phys.org. "Amateur astronomer Alberto Caballero finds possible source of Wow! signal". phys.org. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  12. ^ Wright, Jason T. (2022-01-01). "SETI in 2020". Acta Astronautica. 190: 24–29. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.09.024. ISSN 0094-5765.
  13. ^ Lang, Fabienne (2020). "Amateur Astronomer Finds Possible Source of Wow! Signal After 43 Years". Interesting Engineering.
  14. ^ "Where did the famous mystery Wow! signal, detected in 1977, come from?". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  15. ^ Milner, Yuri. "The famous "Wow!" signal heard by the Big Ear Radio Telescope in 1977 was probably an artefact". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  16. ^ Young, Chris (2022). "The Wow! Signal: An amateur astronomer may have pinpointed 'alien' signal's origin". Interesting Engineering.
  17. ^ Taranilla, Carlos (2021). Ciudades legendarias y otros enigmas de la historia. Almuzara. ISBN 978-84-18346-23-1.
  18. ^ Caballero, Alberto (2020-01-01). "Solar One: A Proposal for The First Crewed Interstellar Spacecraft". International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace. 7 (4). doi:10.15394/ijaaa.2020.1535. ISSN 2374-6793.
  19. ^ Delbert, Caroline (2020-12-09). "The Radical Spacecraft That Could Send Humans to a Habitable Exoplanet". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  20. ^ Bergan, Brad (2020). "New Revolutionary Spacecraft Might Send Humans to Habitable Exoplanets". Interesting Engineering.
  21. ^ "SpaceFlight". The British Interplanetary Society. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  22. ^ Milenio, Cuarto (2022-05-30). "'Cuarto Milenio' (29/05/22), programa completo HD". Cuatro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  23. ^ Maccone, Claudio. "An Introduction to the Statistical Drake Equation". Defense Intelligence ReferenceDocument.
  24. ^ Brandon Specktor published (2022-06-02). "4 hostile alien civilizations may lurk in the Milky Way, a new study suggests". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  25. ^ Delbert, Caroline (2022-06-07). "4 Malicious Alien Civilizations Could Live in Our Galaxy, Scientist Says". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  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). 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  28. ^ Williams, Matt (2022-06-15). "There Could Be Four Hostile Civilizations in the Milky Way". Universe Today. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  29. ^ "There Could Be Up To Four 'Hostile' Civilizations In Our Galaxy". Cosmoknowledge. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  30. ^ "Sun-like star identified in the region where the Wow! Signal originated". Space Daily. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
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