"The new search for alien intelligence"

Hi all,

Occasionally I like to report on SETI initiatives. In "Astronomy" magazine (click here) for September 2013, volume 4 number 9, pages 28-31, I came across an article by David L Chandler, about some interesting new directions for SETI.


Targeting advanced civilisations:

The article opens up "Most search strategies have concentrated on radio or laser signals that humans know how to send..." (p.28.) Then, "But a whole set of new programs takes a different tack. These searches target highly advanced civilisations throughout our galaxy and beyond without assuming that they are putting any time, effort or thought into communicating their presence." (p.28.)


What are these new ideas:

Geoff Marcy (click here) of the University of California, is looking for evidence of a Dyson sphere (click here), "Shell...solar arrays surrounding the host star." (p.30.)

Lucianne Walkowicz, of Princeton University (click here), is looking through data from the Kepler satellite for "Stellar lighthouses...patterns in the data...for both increases and decreases in light levels, which could indicate anything from laser flashes to massive structures or even partial Dyson spheres..." (p.31.)

Marcy is also running a "...separate SETI project...they hope to eavesdrop on extraterrestrials rather than look for intentional transmissions...The idea is to hunt for signals these aliens may be beaming to each other using modulated laser beams..." (p.31.)

The article presents a very good overview of these new techniques, and well worth you locating a copy of the article.

"What happens when we detect Alien life?"

Dear readers,

This post is about two recent articles in science magazines, about SETI. As you will no doubt know, most SETI proponents steer clear of the UFO subject, preferring, as they say, not to get SETI tarnished with the UFO phenomenon. I came across the following two items the other day.

What happens when we detect Alien life?

The May 2012 issue of Astronomy magazine (Vol 40 No 5) carries an article by SETI astronomer Seth Shostak (click here for more on Seth) (pages 24-29.)

The article starts off "We've never heard a peep from aliens...then poses the question "...has any serious consideration gone into what happens when our efforts to detect cosmic intelligence pay off and we find a blip of a signal in the sea of radio noise that pours into the SETI antennas?"

Shostak then reviews the work of Frank Drake's "Project Ozma" (click here) and the International Academy of Astronautics' (click here) SETI detection protocols. The protocols "...boil down to this: (1) carefully verify that the signal is truly extraterrestrial, (2) inform other scientists and the public, and (3) seek international approval before transmitting any reply."

A discussion of possible public reactions to such an announcement follows. The author concludes "But this much we can say: If SETI succeeds, we'll have proof that biology is as much a part of the cosmos as pulsars and pockmarked planets. And, while instant brotherhood is unlikely to erupt suddenly on Earth, we'll at least know we're neither the crown of creation nor even particularly exceptional..."

Scanning for E.T.'s calls

The Scientific American magazine, April 2012 issue, Vol 306 No4 page 10, carries a piece about a new SETI initiative.

"More than 44,000 radio antennas will soon link over the Internet to create one of the most ambitious radio telescopes ever built. Its job will be to scan largely unexplored radio frequencies, hunting for the first stars and galaxies and, potentially, signals of extraterrestrial intelligence....The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will consist of banks of antennas in 48 stations in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and the UK...The array will be finished by the middle of this year...In the next few years, the array will also scan for artificial radio emissions as part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) at lower, neglected frequencies than past SETI missions."

For more on LOFAR click here.

SETI items

Dear readers

In Adelaide, we are having a short return to summer conditions today, before an icy blast from Antarctica comes in at the weekend.

Today's post features two short items related to SETI.

Signs of life in meteorites:

Remnants of an asteroid crashed to Earth in October 2008. Pieces were collected within 20 hours. "Astronomers have identified 10 different meteorite types within the recovered remains. After further analysis, they determined that some of these types contained amino acids and other important molecules of life."

(Source: Astronomy magazine. Volume 39 number 4, April 2011, page 20.)

A small exoplanet found:

NASA announced that its Kepler mission "...had discovered the first definitely rocky exoplanet...named Kepler 10b, it's also the smallest planet ever found outside the solar system, measuring 1.4 times Earth's size and weighing 4.5 times as much." However, it only "...takes 0.84 days to orbit its star..."

(Source: Astronomy magazine. Volume 39 number 4, April 2011, page 24.)

"Setback for SETI"

Dear readers

The autumn rains have just started in Adelaide, showers all day today.

You will recall that I like to keep up with the comings and goings of the world of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.) Interesting note in the 30 April 2011 issue of New Scientist" magazine (Number 2810 page 5.)

"SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has stopped at the Allen Telescope Array in California.

"The array listened out for alien radio communications until budget cuts by the National Science Foundation and the State of California called a halt to activity. The SETI Institute, which built the array, is seeking new funds."

Click here for further information from the SETI website.

"Closing in on E.T."

Dear readers,

Another lovely day here in Adelaide, South Australia. A maximum of 27 degrees C with nice, clear blue skies sees me at my local library reading science magazines.

As you will be aware, I keep a watchful eye on the research into extra-solar planets, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI.)

In the "Australian Sky and Telescope" magazine (click here) for April 2011 (pages 26-35), there is a major article about SETI by one of SETI's leading researchers, Seth Shostak (click here.)

Although I keep up with SETI research, even I was surprised to read that "The number of star systems deliberately examined by SETI, looking for very weak transmissions over a wide swatch of the radio band, is only about 750, and they only received brief looks at any one given frequency." (p.27.) For some reason, I thought that this number was much higher than 750.

"The fortune so far to trip over an evidence of E.T. is akin to a search for kangaroos in Australia that gives up after examining one acre of the Outback."

The Theme:

The theme of the article is that modern radio searches have so far been minuscule, but that better technology may bring results by 2036

Shostak states that within 25 years, we will have searched perhaps 1 million stars instead of the 750 of today. "A million could be enough to garner success, if our galaxy's tally of transmitting civilisations is 10,000 or more."

Part of the new technology is the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) , with 42 out of the projected 350, small 6 metre diameter dishes currently existing in place. The ATA has already begun a couple of projects including targetting strips of sky near the galactic centre, and scanning in the anti-solar direction in case someone out there has seen the earth transiting our Sun.

A second SETI approach involves "looking for flashing lights from nearby stars." (p.30.) Currently, Harvard physicist Paul Horowitz has built a 1.8m diameter optical SETI scope.

Other approaches include the detection of beamed high-energy neutrinos.

"Within a generation, our experiments will have reconnoitred just about every star out to 1,000 light years or more. " (p.33.)

Kepler:

The NASA Kepler planet-finding mission (click here) hopefully will reveal a number of earth-like planets which SETI can then target.

A final SETI idea revolves around "How can our SETI experiments optimise the chance of finding non biological sentient entities?" "...logic suggests that we should direct some of our SETI efforts to localities where matter and energy are plentiful..." (p.34.)

Conclusion:

The article concludes:

"The march of progress will soon permit us to search the sky more quickly and with better sensitivity, than ever before. Our situation is akin to that of Christopher Columbus as he sailed past the breakwater of Palos De La Frontera in August 1492 and headed into the rolling swells of the Atlantic. It's still very early days, and the great excitement lies before us." (p.34.)

I found this an excllent layperson's review article of the state of SETI today.

"Talk to the aliens"

I always look forward to an issue of the English "New Scientist" magazine. The current issue, Volume 206, number 2767, pp26-27 was no exception.

SETI researcher Seth Shostak writes:

"Stephen Hawking is worried about aliens. The famous physicist recently suggested that we should be wary of contact with extraterrestrials, citing what happened to native Americans when Europeans landed on their shores...For three years, this issue has been exercising a group of SETI scientists in the International Academy of Astronautics...In truth, banning broadcasts would be impractical...such considerations motivated the SETI group...to reject a proscription of transmission to the sky..."