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Space

Planets that look alike might be a sign of spacefaring aliens

We don’t know what alien life might look like, but if other civilisations can colonise multiple worlds, we might see planets that look unusually similar

By Alex Wilkins

11 April 2024

Alien civilisations that have terraformed multiple planets may be detectable from afar

dotted zebra/Alamy

Nearby planets that look unusually alike could be a sign of spacefaring alien life that has travelled between stars, researchers have suggested.

Astronomers searching for extraterrestrial life tend to look for specific signals, either in the form of “biosignatures” – molecules that are only produced by biological processes – or “technosignatures”, abnormal patterns of light that may have been produced by technologies.

Both of these rely on assumptions…

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