Dr. Sofia Sheikh is a SETI Institute astronomer and technosignatures researcher. She is the lead author of the “Earth Detecting Earth” study, which inventories the technosignatures present-day Earth emits — radio leakage, optical/laser signals, atmospheric and surface markers, and artificial objects — and estimates how far away each could be detected by an extraterrestrial civilization with comparable technology.
Key findings include that everyday 4G LTE leakage is detectable only to ~4 light-years (roughly to Proxima Centauri), while powerful planetary radar bursts (e.g., the decommissioned Arecibo dish) reach much farther. The study frames Earth as a calibration target for terrestrial-technosignature searches. It was discussed alongside simon-steel in a SETI Institute SETI Live segment (src-seti-detecting-earth-technosignatures-2026-05).
Sheikh is also lead author of a June 2026 Astronomical Journal radio technosignature search of the interstellar comet 3i-atlas using the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (with co-author Valeria Garcia Lopez, Furman University). The 7+-hour search returned a null result, ruling out any transmitter stronger than ~10–110 W and reinforcing the natural-object interpretation. Sheikh framed the work via Voyager — humanity’s own probes will one day be interstellar artifacts, so characterizing the natural baseline helps flag future anomalies (src-3i-atlas-technosignature-null-2026-06).