Re: Interstellar exploration

In article <1193343549.416078.151850@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
valends3@xxxxxxxxx says...
Wouldn't sufficiently powerful telescopes in the home system be able
to do exactly what Alpha and Beta teams do? We're pretty close to
resolving Earth-size planets now, and life advanced enough to be
"interesting" should be making some kind of detectable change on their
planet. (For example, the unusually high levels of oxygen and methane
in Earth's atmosphere.)




With the cost of interstellar travel this would make a lot of sense.
.