Well, in my view this is simply another popular science writer writing about that which they really know nothing about, and many of the statements contain "question-begging" epithets.
I have been teaching a course on
Relativity, Light travel and Spacetime to advanced Physics and Astronomy-Astrophysics students, and in order to motivate them to think about alternative explanations in relativity, I introduced the Conventionality of Simultaneity Thesis originally conceived by one of Eisnstein's students, Hans Reichenbach and verified by at least 5 other researchers. This proposition states that nature does not prefer one convention of
simultaneity over another.
here is what is means:
The
canonical or two-way speed of light is approx. 3X10^8 m/s but this is the measured "two-way" speed of light
Cannonical Speed of Light Measurement
and it is assumed by Einstein's Synchrony Convention (ESC) that it is isotropic, which means it has the same velocity in all directions.
But in Eintein's SRT theory, it runs into trouble when attempting to define the
one-way speed of light in terms of his ESC.
In terms of light travel, Reichenbach's theory says that the one-way speed of light is
anisotropic (not the same speed in all directions) and the speed of light can have a value
Epsilon between 1/2c and Infinity, depending on the observer's Frame of Reference, but never less than 1/2c.
Arthur Eddington had one of the earliest references to an alternative convention when he stated, "a convention is introduced as to the reckoning of time differences at different places…" He further stated that the isotropy of the
one-way speed of light is not "
by itself a statement of observable fact, nor does it refer to any intrinsic property of clocks or of light; it is simply an announcement of the rule by which we propose to extend fictitious time-partitions throughout the world…" I.e, Einsteins ESC proposition was chosen for his convenience in order to make his SRT equations tenable, but it is NOT the only viable convention.
In essence what this means is that for an observer on earth, the
one-way speed of light from distant astronomical objects arrives instantaneously.
The title, Scientists Know Where Aliens Might Be, But Humans Will Never See Them, is ludicrous. This is analogous to the fudge factors called dark energy and dark matter, which we can't measure or see it but it has to be there in order to make previous fudge factor equations work out. Sure, it is conjectured they exist but recall that a conjecture
is an or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof; an opinion or theory so formed and often expressed as a guess.
Quote
s our astronomical vision has improved over the centuries, we've discovered that gazing into space is also a form of time travel to the past. If you look at a star like Sirius, which is eight light years away, you are seeing an image of it eight years ago, when the starlight hitting your eye left it. The farther away an object in space is, the more distant in time it is as well, and so the light from stars that died long before our planet was born continues to reach Earth.
According to Reichenbach's theory, the one-way speed of light arrived from Sirius instantaneously.
This article just reinforces that notion that current science is in disarray because the whole premises is based on conjectured probability assumptions.