Aliens Can Move Solar System Planets, Astronomers Say

Planetary scientist Matthew Clement of the Carnegie Institution\’s Earth and Planetary Laboratory and colleagues claim that a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s can alert us to their presence by moving the planets around, reports inverse.com.

Experts say that an a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳ c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳ can organize entire solar systems of planets. They can also bombard moons and planets with asteroids to change their orbits and signify their presence, planetologists say.

According to astronomer Matthew Clement, this ambitious planetary shuffle will provide an opportunity for a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s to announce their presence to us.

In a recent article in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Clement and his colleagues suggest that a sufficiently powerful and motivated a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳ c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳ could create entire solar systems with planets.

Planetologists believe this could be done with an asteroid-sized object. To do this, just direct it to the correct course to influence other planets with gravitational shocks, gradually moving them to different orbits.

“This really happens,” Clement tells Inverse. “We\’re pretty confident that the Solar System\’s giant planets moved significantly after they formed, as they repeated flybys with debris debris and things like Pluto.”

Scientists believe that doing such a thing is not entirely outside the realm of science fiction. Clement says there is already serious speculation about using gravitational jostling from another small object to direct an asteroid into a closer orbit for mining.

And we\’re already using the same principle to launch spacecraft into more distant orbits (or send them flying out of the solar system).

“It would take millions of years for an asteroid, or multiple asteroids, to move a planet-sized thing that [necessary] distance,” says Clement. That\’s an order of magnitude larger than our species has ever existed.

“But if you\’re a more advanced c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳, maybe you can think of timescales of millions of years.”

A technologically advanced a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳ culture might find a way to apply gravity to an entire planet to change its orbit.

While it\’s hard to figure out how to do this, Clement says that, in terms of clean energy needs, any c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳ tech-savvy enough to harness most or all of its star\’s energy could do so in just over two ( Earth) years.

“It\’s worth considering that any c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳ can only transmit itself for a short period of time,” says Clement.

Some technologies may outlive their creators – for example our radio transmissions will propagate into space long after we leave, and the Lageos satellites (a pair of laser reflectors in very stable orbits at 5,900 kilometers above Earth) are likely to will remain in orbit for more than The earth will remain habitable.