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Thread: New chapter in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?

  1. #1
    Master OptiBoarder rinselberg's Avatar
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    New chapter in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?

    FIND THE ONES WHO ARE "LEAKING"

    As new kinds of radio telescopes are being constructed for the study of cosmology and astrophysics, plans are also being developed to siphon off some of the low frequency radio signal data, in order to open a new chapter in the history of SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

    To date, SETI projects - including the well known SETI@home project - have focused their efforts on detecting high frequency radio signals - from one Gigahertz upwards - that are thought to be the most likely radio frequencies for a planetary beacon: A signal transmitted by an extraterrestrial civilization for the express purpose of being detected and recognized by other civilizations that are searching for such signals - civilizations like our own.

    SETI scientists are now considering the possibility of using a new generation of radio telescopes, such as the Mileura Wide-Field Array, under construction in Australia, to search the lower frequency radio bands for accidental "leakage" from nearby extraterrestrial civilizations.

    These are the same kinds of low frequency signals - from 80 to 300 Megahertz - that our own civilization continuously radiates into space, including radar signals and TV and FM radio carriers.

    The primary mission of the Mileura Wide-Field Array is to detect and analyze centimeter-wave emissions from hydrogen molecules in the early universe. Its key scientific goal is to create a three-dimensional map of ionized "bubbles" that formed as the first quasars and galaxies flooded space with ultraviolet light billions of years ago.

    Source:
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0108152557.htm


    "POWERED BY MICROSOFT"

    In coming years, SETI will launch its most ambitious search to date. Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, has donated a major share of the construction budget for a new array of 350 radio telescopes that will be devoted full time to SETI research.

    The $50 million Allen Telescope Array, located at UC Berkeley's Hat Creek Observatory, will search for radio signals from over a million star systems as far from earth as 1,000 light-years ... unfathomably distant by any human standard, but well within our immediate neighborhood in our own Milky Way galaxy.

    The SETI Institute is seeking additional money for the project and hopes to complete the Allen array within the next few years.

    High-powered computers will process data from millions of radio channels simultaneously, digitally analyzing the radio spectrum and sifting through the numbers with a battery of sophisticated math algorithms; in effect, listening for a "WOW!" signal - any kind of radio signal that appears out of the ordinary - and not attributable to any known natural or astrophysical explanation.

    Since the first search for extraterrestrial radio signals began in the 1960s, only about 1,000 stars have been surveyed and no intelligent signals have ever been reliably confirmed.

    "Thanks to the march of technology, SETI is poised to succeed," said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer with the SETI Institute. "If SETI's assumptions are accurate – that aliens are actively communicating using radio transmissions as beacons – then contact should be achieved within a few decades after the Allen array is completed ..."

    Other SETI efforts are now under way using optical telescopes to search for intelligent light signals or laser powered light beacons that would stand out as extraordinary against the background of natural starlight.

    Source:
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont..._lz1c11et.html



    What do you already know about SETI - and what do you imagine about SETI that is anything but objective or factual? You can learn more online via Just the Facts: Three SETI Myths - a current (2006) report on http://www.space.com with links to a veritable goldmine of online reports for the lay audience about SETI and related space research. You can also find more rinselberg posts about SETI and other space research under these reputable OptiBoard forum topics (thread titles):

    It's midnight. Do you know what your computer is doing?
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    One small step for fish. One giant leap for Darwinian evolution.
    Last edited by rinselberg; 01-19-2007 at 10:34 AM.

  2. #2
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter DragonLensmanWV's Avatar
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    I don't have as many puters running SETI as I used to but I can join the Optibiard team too. I'm also a member of the Ultima Dragons team, listed there as Optician Dragon. I have quite a few credits stacked up over the years.
    http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...p?teamid=31251
    DragonlensmanWV N.A.O.L.
    "There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."

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    Optical Curmudgeon EyeManFla's Avatar
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    Have they found intelligent life inside the Beltway yet?
    "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"

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