3 ms·

>but you can still see that there is some communication. how do you know it's communication?

• gus_massa 5y ago
  As other comment noticed, probably they need from time to time some handshake to restart the communication between two stars, and it's more difficult to hide. Anyway, I expect a big variation of traffic. Interstellar communication is (probably) expensive, so I don't expect them to just have a steady communication rate. Sites here on Earth have a strong weekly variation. Weekends have a different amount of traffic than the rest of the week. It's very regular, so it may be confused with a natural thing, like the little green men in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar . For short trips, they may use the same week in both stars, that will be weird and noticeable. For long settlements, they will probably use a different local definition. (I've never seen a monthly variation, except in my bank account.) Websites have a strong annual variation. Nobody studies math on Christmas! I expect both stars to have their own local version of New-Year/Christmas/Thanksgiving or whatever holiday is popular in your country, that may be confused with a natural phenomena. But I expect that someone with family in both sides will send more messages in the special days in the other star. Even if the lag is 4 years, your parents will never forgive you if you don't send a message on their birthdays and favorite holiday.