The New Scientist reports that Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, predicts an alien first contact within 20 years. Shostak’s prediction is based on the increasing computing power of radiotelescopes that scan radio emissions from the bright lights that hang in the night sky hundreds of light years from Earth.
Within a generation, radio emissions from enough stars will be observed and analysed to find the first alien civilisation, Shostak estimates. But because they will probably be between 200 and 1000 light years away, sending a radio message back will take centuries.
See the full report in the upcoming edition of Acta Astronautica.