60 Million Stars Surveyed And Not One Alien Detected, By Searching For Extraterrestrial Radio Signals

Breakthrough Listen scanned 60 million stars—still no signs of intelligent life.

Key Takeaways

Scientists searched 60 million stars for alien signals but found nothing resembling intelligent life.
This was the most sensitive and deepest targeted SETI survey ever conducted of the galactic center.
The study focused on periodic radio transients, potential beacons from advanced civilizations.
No alien signals were found, but the team detected transient events linked to magnetars.
Despite decades of searching, the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence is still in its early days.

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The Deepest Search Yet

Astrobiologists with the Breakthrough Listen project have released preliminary results from one of the most comprehensive SETI surveys ever conducted. Using the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia, researchers spent 600 hours scanning a region that extends toward the Milky Way’s center. Their study, soon to be published in the Astronomical Journal (with a preprint available on arXiv), analyzed radio signals from approximately 60 million stars.

Unlike previous efforts that searched for accidental alien radio leakage, this survey specifically targeted periodic radio transients—deliberate signals that could serve as beacons from an advanced civilization. The galactic center was chosen because it contains a dense cluster of stars, making it an ideal location for potential interstellar communication networks.

A view of the galactic center—a region of space containing an abundance of stars, superheated clouds of gas, neutron stars, white dwarfs, and a supermassive black hole parked in the core. Image: X-Ray:NASA/CXC/UMass/D. Wang et al.; Radio:NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT

No Alien Signals—But Other Cosmic Discoveries

Despite the unprecedented sensitivity of this survey, researchers found no repeating radio signals that could be linked to extraterrestrial intelligence. However, the study did capture transient events consistent with magnetars—highly magnetized neutron stars—providing valuable data for astronomers studying these extreme objects.

This is not the first time SETI researchers have come up empty-handed. A 2019 survey of 1,372 nearby stars also yielded no evidence of alien life. While these results may seem discouraging, scientists emphasize that the search has only just begun. The universe is vast, and our technological reach remains limited. As Breakthrough Listen continues its mission, future studies may uncover signals that redefine our place in the cosmos.