X-O Planet Ping!...................
A good astronomical observation, a poor name for the experiment, and a bit of click bait sensationalism.
Using this, we should be able to detect life from hundreds of light years! After all, photosynthesis is about the ONLY way for an oxygen atmosphere to exist, since oxygen is SO chemically reactive.
(Oxygen reacts with JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING in the universe. The only reason almost everything on Earth doesn’t quickly oxidize is its already made out of oxidized materials.)
My prediction: they won’t publicly look for oxygen, because they don’t want the answer they’ll almost certainly get, which is that there is no nearby life. There are trillions of trillions of galaxies, so there’s probably life out there... but if it hasn’t found us, we’re going to have a REALLY hard time finding it.
Okay, I’m impressed.
If a quasar was in the Milky Way we would know it.