---
title: "Scientists Search 10 Million Stars, See No Signs of Alien Civilization"
description: "After scanning 10 million stars looking for a technological alien civilization, astronomers found nothing. Learn why they're still hopeful."
date: "2020-09-08"
modified: "2020-09-16"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/10-million-stars-no-signs-alien-civilization"
categories:
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "extraterrestrial life"
  - "SETI"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Search 10 Million Stars, See No Signs of Alien Civilization

![After checking 10 million stars for signs of a technological extraterrestrial civilization, a team of SETI scientists came back with nothing.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/10-million-stars-no-signs-alien-civilization.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Harel Boren\</em\>*

## Comb The Desert

A team of scientists hunting for extraterrestrial civilizations just scanned 10 million stars — and came back with nothing.

Scientists at Australia's Curtin University and CSIRO research organization scanned a vast region of space with an array of 4096 antennas in hopes that they might pick up on radio transmissions of an alien society, [according to *CNET*](<https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-find-no-signs-of-alien-tech-after-scanning-over-10-million-stars/>), but came up dry. The discovery doesn't rule out the [possibility of extraterrestrial life](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/seti-team-increases-number-stars-might-host-life-200x>) — but if it exists, it's either elsewhere or it doesn't have technology that resembles ours.

## Wide Net

The search was the largest ever of its kind by two orders of magnitude, [according to research](<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/publications-of-the-astronomical-society-of-australia/article/seti-survey-of-the-vela-region-using-the-murchison-widefield-array-orders-of-magnitude-expansion-in-search-space/C175371A2383A6A03FC038D50C4D4B16>) published Monday in the journal *Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia*. And while the scientists hoped they'd turn up *something*, they're still holding out hope.

After all, even their large scale was like hunting for an object in the ocean but only checking "a volume of water equivalent to a large backyard swimming pool," CSIRO researcher Chenoa Tremblay told *CNET*.

"Looking for technosignatures is assuming that the civilization \[has\] technology similar to our own," Tremblay added.

## Hitching A Ride

For better or worse, these SETI experiments rely on [other scientific endeavors](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/seti-scientist-alien-hunting-funding>) — and astronomers generally hunt for life in regions of space that are already being probed for other purposes. So they don't yet know whether they'll move on to a new chunk of the night sky for their next attempt, nor do they know where it would be.

"Where we go next will depend on the other science," Tremblay told *CNET*.

**READ MORE:** [Astronomers find no signs of alien tech after scanning over 10 million stars](<https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-find-no-signs-of-alien-tech-after-scanning-over-10-million-stars/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on SETI:** *[SETI Team Increases Number of Stars That Might Host Life by 200x](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/seti-team-increases-number-stars-might-host-life-200x>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)