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Ralph Pudritz, Physics & Astronomy, and René Heller, a former post-doctoral fellow in the Department, have proposed a way to narrow down the search for extraterrestrial life. They suggest we should assume that extraterrestrial observers are using the same methods to search for us that we are using to search for them. Currently, scientists track the shadows of distant planets and moons as those shadows pass in front of their own host stars to learn more about these distant places. By concentrating efforts on observing exoplanets that can see our shadow on our sun, researchers could reduce the number of stars studied from billions to tens of thousands.

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