The TRAPPIST-1 system sits about 40 light-years away. Astronomers love it because it has seven Earth-sized planets. Many of them are in the right temperature zone for water and possibly life. Some may even be ocean worlds with thin atmospheres. It’s one of the best places we know to look for another habitable home in space.
Scientists in China used the world’s biggest radio telescope, FAST, to search TRAPPIST-1 for alien signals. FAST is the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, run by Dezhou University. The telescope is so sensitive it can pick up faint, slow radio signals in a frequency range where natural sources don’t normally show up. This makes it ideal for spotting anything artificial, like a broadcast from another civilisation.
Researchers ran twelve observation sessions, each lasting about an hour and a half. They scanned the system carefully for unusual radio signals. The telescope is designed to catch even weak signals that might just be stray transmissions, not purposeful messages. But in this case, no alien signals were found.
That doesn’t mean the search was pointless. Every test like this proves how powerful new technology has become. Being able to confirm that there are no signals in this range shows just how precise modern tools for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence really are.
Scientists say the hunt is far from over. TRAPPIST-1 will continue to be a top target in the coming years. With better instruments like FAST, researchers hope to narrow down the search for life and understand more about our place in the universe. It may take decades to get a clear answer, but every step brings us closer.