If that beacon is transmitting radio waves in all directions, the energy it would need to produce is a whopping 10^20 watts. “That’s a big energy bill even if you’re getting a bulk discount from your local supplier. It’s 100s of times more than all the energy falling on the Earth from sunlight.”

That means the hypothetical beings responsible might be what SETI scientists call a Kardashev Type II civilization, so advanced that they can tap all of the energy being produced by their host star.

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