We Could See the Glint off Giant Cities on Alien Worlds - by ScottyJ_PhD
But we’ve recently entered an era in which it is possible to directly image exoplanets themselves, opening up opportunities to search for intelligent life in the Universe on more modest scales.
An example of specular reflection glinting off the ‘Heart of the City’ water feature in Sheffield. Credit: Steve F, Wikimedia Commons.“Future efforts to directly image planets in reflected light are being strongly pursued for both space telescopes and for extremely large ground-based telescopes,” writes Jaiswal. The method will work for both red dwarfs and sun-like stars.
Because there is a size limit, the visibility of specular reflection relies much more on the materials used in such a city or megastructure. A low reflectivity substance like glass, for example, would cause a noticeable, but very faint peak in brightness, while an aluminum structure would shine several times more brightly than the whole planet.
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