Part of the plot of the book Chindi, actually. Humanity discovers a stealth observation satellite that's hundreds of thousands of years old, of alien make, and follows its broadcast path along multiple other satellites in multiple other systems, before discovering a gargantuan automated museum ship sent off by a forgotten civilization as part of a millenia-long documentation project.
Part of the plot of the book Chindi, actually. Humanity discovers a stealth observation satellite that's hundreds of thousands of years old, of alien make, and follows its broadcast path along multiple other satellites in multiple other systems, before discovering a gargantuan automated museum ship sent off by a forgotten civilization as part of a millenia-long documentation project.
Aw shit you spoilered it me
That's the premise, not the plot. Bunch of scifi existentialism happens around all that