SETI & Anomalous Signals

[KeyserXSoze]

Beep. Beep. BEEP.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1028302004

Is strange space signal a sign that ET's mother has called back?

JAMES REYNOLDS
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT


AMATEUR radio hams are usually excited by the faint buzz of a distant shortwave station, but a group of scientists believe they have received a message from extra-terrestrials.

Astronomers think that a signal picked up by a radio telescope last year shows the highest probability yet that ET’s family may have returned his call.

In February 2003, scientists involved in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) pointed the huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, at about 200 sections of the sky.

Unexplained radio signals had been detected twice by the same telescope in these areas and scientists were trying to confirm the findings.

It may sound fanciful, but a report in the journal NewScientist reveals how the team has now finished analysing the data, and all the signals seem to have disappeared - except for one which has got stronger. Detected on three separate occasions, the signal is "an enigma", say researchers.

So far, explanations have included conjecture that it could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon, or may even be something far more pedestrian, such as an artefact on the telescope itself interfering with measurements.

But the astronomy team says that it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programmes running as screen-savers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope.

Dr Dan Wertheimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California (Berkeley) and the chief scientist for the project, said: "It is the most interesting signal from SETI@home. We are not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."

Named SHGb02+14a, the possible alien communication has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz - one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy.

Some astronomers have suggested that aliens trying to announce their presence would be likely to transmit at this frequency, and SETI researchers regularly scan this part of the radio spectrum.

The unexplained signal appears to be emanating from a point between the constellations of Pisces and Aries, where there is no obvious star or planetary system within 1,000 light years, and the transmission is also very faint.

Dr Eric Korpela, of the research team, said: "We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’. This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant."

So far, the telescope has managed to pick up the signal for only about a minute in total, which is not sufficient for astronomers to analyse it fully.

Dr Korpela believes that it is unlikely the "message" is the result of any obvious radio interference or noise, and it does not resemble any known astronomical object.

Others, however, are more sceptical, saying the current lack of explanation does not mean that it could only have been produced by aliens.

Dr Jocelyn Bell Burnell, of the University of Bath, said: "It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind - like I stumbled over."

It was Dr Bell Burnell who, in 1967, observed a pulsed radio signal which the research team at the time believed was from extra-terrestrials, but which later was confirmed as the first sighting ever of a spinning collapsed star.

Other questions arise over the signal’s frequency, which oscillates by between eight and 37 hertz a second.

Paul Horowitz, a Harvard University astronomer who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes, believes that the drift in the signal makes it "fishy".

David Anderson, the director of the SETI@home project, is also sceptical but curious about the signal. He told NewScientist: "It is unlikely to be real, but we will definitely continue to observe it."

Meanwhile, a new analysis of interstellar communications claims that, rather than sending radio signals, aliens would find it far more efficient to send a "message in a bottle".

Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey claim that beaming a radio signal that can be detected 10,000 light years away would demand a million billion times as much energy as just shooting out matter on which the data is inscribed.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/12935410

Are aliens trying to get in touch?
By Fiona MacRae, Daily Mail

A mysterious radio signal could be a message from an alien civilisation, scientists said yesterday.

It is believed to have originated 31million years ago and to have travelled 182.9trillion miles before reaching the giant Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

The signal has been spotted on three separate occasions but has been observed for only about a minute in total - not long enough to allow astronomers to analyse it in detail.

But they say it is unlikely to be the result of any obvious radio interference or noise and does not bear the hallmark of any known astronomical object.

Experts involved in the worldwide project Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence say that means it might really have been sent by aliens.

The signal is the most exciting discovery in the six-year history of the Seti@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on 5million personal computers across the globe to sift through the vast amount of data from Arecibo.

Seti scientist Eric Korpela said: 'It boggles my mind. We are looking for something that screams out "artificial". This just doesn't do that.'

Radio astronomer Dan Werthaimer, from the University of California at Berkeley, added: 'It's the most interesting signal from Seti@home.

'We're not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it.'

The signal, named SHGbo2+14a, has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz, the magazine New Scientist reports today.

This is one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy.

Some experts argue that extraterrestrials trying to advertise their presence would be most likely to transmit at this frequency.

The signal appears to be coming from a point between the constellations Pisces and Aries, where there is no obvious star or planetary system within 1,000 light years.

The transmission - first heard in 2002 by two home computer users in Germany and the U.S. and latterly in February 2003 - is also very weak.

The signal has some odd characteristics. For instance, its frequency is fluctuating rapidly, which might occur if it was beamed out from a rapidly spinning planet or object.

A planet would have to be rotating nearly 40 times faster than the Earth to produce the same amount of drift.

In addition, a drifting signal would be expected to have a slightly different frequency each time a telescope detected it.

But with every observation of SHGbo2+14a the signal has started off with a frequency of 1420 megahertz before starting to drift.

For this reason, experts have not ruled out the possibility that it could be a glitch in the telescope.

Another possibility that has been considered is fraud by someone hacking into the Seti@home software.

But the unusual characteristics of the signal make it unlikely that someone is playing a prank.

'I can't think of any way to make a signal like this, I can't think of any way to fake it,' said Mr Korpela.

That does not mean that only aliens could have produced it. As Dr Jocelyn Bell Burnell, of Bath University, said: 'It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind.'

It was Dr Bell Burnell who in 1967 noticed a pulsed radio signal which the research team at the time thought was from extraterrestrials but which turned out to be the first ever sighting of a pulsar.

Professor David Anderson, director of Seti@home, was sceptical about the signal but remained curious. 'It's unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it,' he said.

And Dr Bell Burnell added: 'If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting.'

The discovery echoes the plot of the 1997 film Contact, in which a scientist played by Jodie Foster picks up a radio signal broadcast from deep space which contains instructions from aliens on how mankind can contact them.

 

[KeyserXSoze]

New Scientist version...

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341

Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away

19:00 01 September 04

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

In February 2003, astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) pointed the massive radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, at around 200 sections of the sky.

The same telescope had previously detected unexplained radio signals at least twice from each of these regions, and the astronomers were trying to reconfirm the findings. The team has now finished analysing the data, and all the signals seem to have disappeared. Except one, which has got stronger.

This radio signal, now seen on three separate occasions, is an enigma. It could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon. Or it could be something much more mundane, maybe an artefact of the telescope itself.

But it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope.

Absorb and emit

“It’s the most interesting signal from SETI@home,” says Dan Werthimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home. “We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it.”

Named SHGb02+14a, the signal has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This happens to be one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy.

Some astronomers have argued that extraterrestrials trying to advertise their presence would be likely to transmit at this frequency, and SETI researchers conventionally scan this part of the radio spectrum.

SHGb02+14a seems to be coming from a point between the constellations Pisces and Aries, where there is no obvious star or planetary system within 1000 light years. And the transmission is very weak.

“We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’,” says UCB researcher Eric Korpela, who completed the analysis of the signal in April. “This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant.”

Unknown signature

The telescope has only observed the signal for about a minute in total, which is not long enough for astronomers to analyse it thoroughly. But, Korpela thinks it unlikely SHGb02+14a is the result of any obvious radio interference or noise, and it does not bear the signature of any known astronomical object.

That does not mean that only aliens could have produced it. “It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind like I stumbled over,” says Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath, UK.

It was Bell Burnell who in 1967 noticed a pulsed radio signal which the research team at the time thought was from extraterrestrials but which turned out to be the first ever sighting of a pulsar.

There are other oddities. For instance, the signal’s frequency is drifting by between eight to 37 hertz per second. “The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that’s rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet,” Korpela says.

This does not, however, convince Paul Horowitz, a Harvard University astronomer who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes. He points out that the SETI@home software corrects for any drift in frequency.

Fishy and puzzling

The fact that the signal continues to drift after this correction is “fishy”, he says. “If [the aliens] are so smart, they’ll adjust their signal for their planet’s motion.”

The relatively rapid drift of the signal is also puzzling for other reasons. A planet would have to be rotating nearly 40 times faster than Earth to have produced the observed drift; a transmitter on Earth would produce a signal with a drift of about 1.5 hertz per second.

What is more, if telescopes are observing a signal that is drifting in frequency, then each time they look for it they should most likely encounter it at a slightly different frequency. But in the case of SHGb02+14a, every observation has first been made at 1420 megahertz, before it starts drifting. “It just boggles my mind,” Korpela says.

The signal could be an artefact that, for some reason, always appears to be coming from the same point in the sky. The Arecibo telescope has a fixed dish reflector and scans the skies by changing the position of its receiver relative to the dish.

When the receiver reaches a certain position, it might just be able to reflect waves from the ground onto the dish and then back to itself, making it seem as if the signal was coming from space.

“Perhaps there is an object on the ground near the telescope emitting at about this frequency,” Korpela says. This could be confirmed by using a different telescope to listen for SHGb02+14a.

Possible fraud

There is also the possibility of fraud by someone hacking the SETI@home software to make it return evidence for an extraterrestrial transmission. However, SHGb02+14a was seen on two different occasions by different SETI@home users, and those calculations were confirmed by others.

Then the signal was seen a third time by the SETI@home researchers. The unusual characteristics of the signal also make it unlikely that someone is playing a prank, Korpela says. “As I can’t think of any way to make a signal like this, I can’t think of any way to fake it.”

David Anderson, director of SETI@home, remains sceptical but curious about the signal. ”It’s unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it.” Bell Burnell agrees that it is worth persisting with. “If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting,” she says.

It is already exciting for IT engineers Oliver Voelker of Logpoint in Nuremberg, Germany and Nate Collins of Farin and Associates in Madison, Wisconsin, who found the signal.

Collins wonders how his bosses will react to company computers finding aliens. “I might have to explain a little further about just how much I was using [the computers],” he says.

I find the possibility of this being 'it' exciting, but what's the betting it'll turn out (at least officially) to be a glitch in the system.

 

[sunsplash1]

That would be so darn cool...

But it's probably someones Microwave oven on the blink...

 

[Anonymous]

I have been convinced for a long time that the first emissions that we detect from an extraterrestrial civilisation will be from their anti-asteroid radar system...
this looks like the sort of thing such a system might produce.

However it is probably some as-yet undiscovered natural phenomenon.

 

[Anome]

Can I just say "WOW"?

I will be interested to see what comes of this, although at 1000 light years, we're unlikely to be holding conversations with them any time soon.

Damn you, Einstein!

[EDIT]Now having read the New Scientist report, there are some oddities with it.

There are a number of possibilities to explain the apparent high orbital frequency. These would include an artificial satellite in an odd orbit, and a natural source on a rapidly spinning body.

Not to mention a whole universe of possibilities in between.

 

[Seminole10]

Alien Signals From Space Picked Up

This was on the news a few minutes ago. I came here for the details but nothing on it yet.

Hope someone shows up with a link to the full story soon. I only got a brief sketch from the 5 minute radio news report.

I will keep searching for a link myself as this sounded like there may be something to this one.

 

[Pete Younger]

It is believed to have originated 31million years ago and to have travelled 182.9trillion miles before reaching the giant Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

Those figures don't seem quite right, wouldn't a signal travelling at the speed of light have travelled farther than that?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Seminole: LOL - I heard the news on Channel4 while I was "unavailable" and so missed it and came on here lookin for news.

Here is the way it seems to be playing:

Thu 2 Sep 2004

Is strange space signal a sign that ET's mother has called back?

JAMES REYNOLDS
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT


AMATEUR radio hams are usually excited by the faint buzz of a distant shortwave station, but a group of scientists believe they have received a message from extra-terrestrials.

Astronomers think that a signal picked up by a radio telescope last year shows the highest probability yet that ET’s family may have returned his call.

In February 2003, scientists involved in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) pointed the huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, at about 200 sections of the sky.

Unexplained radio signals had been detected twice by the same telescope in these areas and scientists were trying to confirm the findings.

It may sound fanciful, but a report in the journal NewScientist reveals how the team has now finished analysing the data, and all the signals seem to have disappeared - except for one which has got stronger. Detected on three separate occasions, the signal is "an enigma", say researchers.

So far, explanations have included conjecture that it could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon, or may even be something far more pedestrian, such as an artefact on the telescope itself interfering with measurements.

But the astronomy team says that it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programmes running as screen-savers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope.

Dr Dan Wertheimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California (Berkeley) and the chief scientist for the project, said: "It is the most interesting signal from SETI@home. We are not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."

Named SHGb02+14a, the possible alien communication has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz - one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy.

Some astronomers have suggested that aliens trying to announce their presence would be likely to transmit at this frequency, and SETI researchers regularly scan this part of the radio spectrum.

The unexplained signal appears to be emanating from a point between the constellations of Pisces and Aries, where there is no obvious star or planetary system within 1,000 light years, and the transmission is also very faint.

Dr Eric Korpela, of the research team, said: "We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’. This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant."

So far, the telescope has managed to pick up the signal for only about a minute in total, which is not sufficient for astronomers to analyse it fully.

Dr Korpela believes that it is unlikely the "message" is the result of any obvious radio interference or noise, and it does not resemble any known astronomical object.

Others, however, are more sceptical, saying the current lack of explanation does not mean that it could only have been produced by aliens.

Dr Jocelyn Bell Burnell, of the University of Bath, said: "It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind - like I stumbled over."

It was Dr Bell Burnell who, in 1967, observed a pulsed radio signal which the research team at the time believed was from extra-terrestrials, but which later was confirmed as the first sighting ever of a spinning collapsed star.

Other questions arise over the signal’s frequency, which oscillates by between eight and 37 hertz a second.

Paul Horowitz, a Harvard University astronomer who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes, believes that the drift in the signal makes it "fishy".

David Anderson, the director of the SETI@home project, is also sceptical but curious about the signal. He told NewScientist: "It is unlikely to be real, but we will definitely continue to observe it."

Meanwhile, a new analysis of interstellar communications claims that, rather than sending radio signals, aliens would find it far more efficient to send a "message in a bottle".

Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey claim that beaming a radio signal that can be detected 10,000 light years away would demand a million billion times as much energy as just shooting out matter on which the data is inscribed.

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1028302004

But these reports play it down:

Astronomers deny ET signal report

By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor

Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal from ET.

It was reported on the internet that the signal had been found using the Seti@home screensaver that uses computer downtime to analyse sky data from telescopes.

But researchers connected with the project told BBC News Online on Thursday that no contact with extraterrestrials had been made.

"It's all hype and noise," said its chief scientist, Dr Dan Wertheimer. "We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion."

And Dr Paul Horowitz, of Harvard University, who specialises in hunting for possible alien contacts added: "It's not much of anything at all. We're not investigating it further."

Not a signal

For six years, the Seti@home project has used a downloadable screensaver on millions of computers around the world to sift through data for anything unusual.

The data has been collected by radio telescopes scanning the sky for any unusual signals from space.

At the moment, we have no candidates that we are particularly excited about
Dr Dan Wertheimer

It is believed that any extraterrestrial intelligence might want to send radio messages across the cosmos to make contact with other intelligences.

Over the years, Seti@home has detected many hundreds of thousands of spurious signals and has used statistical techniques to identify them as interference.

About 150 signals survived the process and were subjected to further scrutiny but none passed the final test to be classed as a potential signal from ET.

Large numbers

The "signal" that kicked off furious media excitement on Thursday is called SHGb02+14a and was first detected by computers running Seti@home software in Germany and the US.

It has a frequency of 1420 megahertz - one of the principal frequencies of the most abundant element hydrogen.

Speaking to BBC News Online from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, where he is preparing an observing run to follow up Seti@home analysis, Dr Wertheimer said: "It's all hype. We don't have anything we are excited about.

"At the moment, we have no candidates that we are particularly excited about and the new 'signal' is not a priority."

He continued: "With Seti@home having analysed some 50 trillion frequency bands, it is not surprising that a signal like this occurs purely due to chance."

Dr Horowitz, who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes, told BBC News Online that it was "not new and definitely not a signal".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3621608.stm

Published: 2004/09/02 12:30:28 GMT

© BBC MMIV

SETI has not found ET: official

By Lucy Sherriff
Published Thursday 2nd September 2004 15:34 GMT

Astronomers at the SETI@Home project have spoken up to dismiss suggestions that the project intercepted signals from an alien civilisation.

Reports spread across the net yesterday and today after New Scientist said that an "interesting" signal had been picked up by the huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

We ensure we are knowledgeable in the products we are selling. Every product also undergoes a final quality assurance check, to ensure your purchase is complete and in working order.

The magazine quoted Dan Wertheimer, the chief scientist on the SETI@Home project, as saying that the signal was the most interesting yet identified by the project. He remarked: "We're not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it."

Despite the otherwise sceptical tone of the article, his comments sparked speculation that we had actually made contact with another world. Sadly, this does not appear to be the case, and Wertheimer told ther BBC today that the idea of contact was "all hype and noise". "We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion," he said.

So the armies of the world can stand down - it was all a false alarm. There are no aliens trying to contact or destroy us, and we can all relax again. Phew.

The signal in question is dubbed SHGb02+14a, and has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This is also one of the main absorption frequencies of hydrogen. It is also the alien hunters' favourite place to go looking for deliberate signals from extra terrestrial civilisations.

The signal has only been observed on three occasions for about a minute each time. This is not really long enough for it to be analysed properly, scientists say, which means there are plenty of possible explanations for it.

Even discounting the suggestion that it is evidence of some natural phenomenon, scientists cannot rule out ground based interference, or the possibility that someone has hacked the SETI@Home program. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/02/alien_no_no/

 

[KeyserXSoze]

It is believed to have originated 31million years ago and to have travelled 182.9trillion miles before reaching the giant Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

Those figures don't seem quite right, wouldn't a signal travelling at the speed of light have travelled farther than that?

Who says it was travelling in a straight line (or whatever it's supposed to do) from there to here? Pesky alien life, changing the rules.

Unless it was sent MUCH more recently.:eek!!!!:

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

What to do when ET calls

There's a simple protocol to follow if alien signals are picked up and, Seth Shostak writes, the script doesn't involve a cover-up straight from the X-Files

Thursday September 9, 2004
The Guardian

Suppose that next week, scientists pick up a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization. Would the discovery be made public, or would the authorities - fearing rioting in the streets - keep the news under wraps?

Chances are, this is not a question you frequently pose to the neighbours, but it may be more timely than you think. Last week, an article in New Scientist claimed researchers at the University of California at Berkeley had possibly stumbled across a radio signal from a distant star system that would prove the existence of intelligent beings elsewhere in the inky seas of space.

There's little reason to believe the signal was anything other than random electronic noise or the radio growl of a telecoms satellite. A false alarm, in other words. But the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Seti) is pursued by small research teams in the US, Europe and Australia. Thanks to advances in digital electronics and improved antenna systems, scientists can eavesdrop on the heavens with ever-increasing efficiency. It's possible they will find ET's signal before you buy your next car.

Anticipating this possibility, researchers agreed to a protocol that specifies what to do in case of a discovery. Despite what you might expect (especially if you watch The X-Files) this protocol is not a classified government document stashed in a safe. There's no sealed envelope to be ripped open. The text can be found on many websites and is straightforward and unsurprising. It states that scientists making the discovery should first do all they can to prove that the signal is truly extraterrestrial, then alert other astronomers (who would turn their telescopes to the new find), inform the government and tell the public.

Is that it, then? Would the biggest discovery of all time simply result in big headlines in the morning newspapers, followed by a blistering stream of radio and TV reports?

Historical experience suggests otherwise. Seti practitioners have no policy of secrecy, and consequently any intriguing signals they find are quickly noted by the media. There's a small problem here. To prove that a signal is really ET, and not interference from radar, a satellite or noise in the electronics, takes time. There would be many days of intensive scrutiny (the signal reported in New Scientist was picked up only on scattered occasions). This is rather different from the sci-fi film scenario, in which a bored, lonely researcher - headphones clamping his ears - is jolted awake by the unmistakable sound of an extraterrestrial broadcast.

In the real world, signals are not so unmistakable. In 1997, a transmission found by my group, the Seti Institute, a non-profit research organisation in California, intrigued researchers for many hours before it was identified as telemetry from Europe's Soho satellite. A leading US newspaper picked up this story, believing proof of cosmic company was in the offing. As long as the scientists were scurrying to confirm the signal was truly extraterrestrial, the paper held the story back. Once Soho was implicated, they killed it.

Tabloids won't be as cautious. In the case of a real signal from space, there will be a confusing preamble of vague news, punctuated by unconfirmed reports from the least reputable media. The ultimate science story will break in untidy fashion.

It is dismaying that many people assume proof that we're not alone would cause governments to cover up the facts, if only to protect the citizenry from itself. Consider the 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. Some Americans mistook the fictional Martian invasion for news, and fled their homes. Would a real discovery of extraterrestrials occasion a breakdown in public order?

This seems highly unlikely. Picking up a signal from space is different from watching aggressive aliens land in the pastures. It's difficult to imagine galactic beings would ever charge across the dark deserts between the stars merely to harass the inhabitants of a small planet.

To detect a signal from other worlds would be wondrous. It would show that the appearance of life on this world and its slow, uncertain path to us - creatures that can comprehend their own existence - is not some improbable miracle, but a frequent occurrence. In the 17th century, when early telescopes were revealing great clouds of stars, French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote that the enormity of space terrified him. Space is enormous. To learn that others are out there would be a comfort.

-----------------------------
· Seth Shostak is the senior astronomer at the Seti Institute, California

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/lastword/story/0,,1299885,00.html

 

[ramonmercado]

We're All Ears: Listening For ET

The SETI Institute predicts that we'll detect an extraterrestrial transmission within twenty years.

If that turns out to be true, it'll probably be the folks at UC Berkeley's Hat Creek radio observatory who will have heard the call. Right now, the Allen Telescope Array of more than three-hundred dishes is under construction at Hat Creek five hours north of San Francisco. Within a year, the first thirty dishes will be operational, forming the basis of a giant ear that listens for intelligent beings in space while simultaneously gathering data for groundbreaking astronomy research.

Three prototype radio dishes now in place at Hat Creek Observatory in northern California. By 2007, 350 of these 6.1-meter-diameter dishes will be assembled to form the Allen Telescope Array, the largest radio array in the world. (Courtesy of Radio Astronomy Laboratory)


William "Jack" Welch, UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and astronomy, has been a driving force in the design and construction of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) since the project first got off the ground five years ago as a joint effort between UC Berkeley and the SETI Institute. Named for major donor Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the array will eventually consist of 350 6.1-meter radio dishes electronically networked together into a radio telescope with unprecedented sensitivity. Precisely distributed across 2.6-acres on the Hat Creek grounds, the combined dishes will have far greater sensitivity than much more expensive 100-meter telescopes.

The SETI project scours millions of radio channels for narrow-band signals, indicative of intelligent origin. It's like listening for a station as you twist your car radio's tuning knob past all the static. Until now, SETI has used limited time from myriad radio telescopes around the world, limiting the number of stars that can be observed. However, the ATA will be dedicated to the project, speeding up the SETI search by a factor of 100. Meanwhile, the unique design of the system enables astronomers to monitor a huge range of wavelengths to observe other cosmic phenomena simultaneously with the SETI search.

"SETI is admittedly a long-shot," says Welch, holder of UC Berkeley's first Chair in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. "I don't have the patience to do only that, so it appeals to me to have a steady flow of other data for us to study as well."

For example, Welch and his colleagues will use the array to make a cosmological map of atomic hydrogen, the most abundant element we know of. Indeed, the visible universe may be composed of up to ninety-percent hydrogen. Determining its spatial distribution in nearby galaxies could provide insight into the evolution of the cosmos and the mysteries of dark matter.

"We'll be able to look halfway back to the beginning of the universe," Welch says. "The ability to observe that far back into time is limited right now."

To crank up the telescope's sensitivity, Welch and his colleagues devised a bit of ingenious antenna technology. In traditional pyramid-shaped antennas like those used in the ATA, the signal is picked up at the tip of the structure, called the feed, and runs down wires to the receiver. The problem, Welch explains, is that much of the signal gets lost along the way. To keep the signal as pure as possible, the Berkeley researchers shoehorned the receiver components inside the feed itself.

"It's just one new wrinkle for technology that was originally developed in the 1950s, but it enables our feed to essentially have no limitation on bandwidth," Welch says.

Right now, just three prototype dishes are being put through their paces at Hat Creek. In the next few months though, the researchers will install more than two-dozen others, nearly one dish a day. By Summer, Welch hopes this first small array will be scanning stars many light-years away. Whether ET is intelligent enough to call remains to be seen, or rather heard, but Welch is convinced that there's something out there.

"The recent discovery of planets around many nearby stars is a strong argument that our solar system isn't really unique at all," he says. "That in itself makes it almost certain that there are nearby planets with some kind of life on it."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 104855.htm

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here:
http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/labnotes/1204/welch.html

 

[Anonymous]

The SETI Institute predicts that we'll detect an extraterrestrial transmission within twenty years.

Everytime that they're after funding. The 20 year prediction being based on a rough approximation of a wild guess.

 

[ramonmercado]

Yeah

Its like the Trots, the revolution will always take place in the next 15 - 20 years. "Next year a pre-revolutionary situation will open". That was actually said to me!

Any other examples of rolling 20 year predictions?

 

[Anonymous]

There is a sign at Carrefour at Rivesaltes which reads "10 years from now everyone will have air conditioning". The sign has been there, every summer, for at least 3 years.

 

[giantrobot1]

Re: Yeah

Its like the Trots, the revolution will always take place in the next 15 - 20 years. "Next year a pre-revolutionary situation will open". That was actually said to me!

Any other examples of rolling 20 year predictions?

One that I found amusing was the old prediction that oil reserves will run out in 20 year's time. This was based on the research data collected by oil companies, so seemed fairly reliable.

Thing is, oil companies never bother looking for more than 20 years worth of oil, so once they've found that much, they stop prospecting... :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

rolling predictions surely almost deserve a thread of their own.

 

[Anonymous]

Fusion, artificial intelligence, first woman on Mars, self assembling nanotech, the secret of llife extension; all twenty, thirty, forty years away;

they may all come eventually, but a different times- some not for hundreds of years perhaps.

The end of oil; the ice age; global warming; overpopulation. Asteroid strikes.

Always 20 years way or so. I don't think so.

 

[Anonymous]

And I'm still waiting for the personal hovercraft.

 

[Timble2]

Looking for Ringworld

A new suggestion for searching for ET, don't scan for radio signals, look for evidence of megastructures a like Larry Niven's Ringworld, or Bob Shaw's Orbitsville....

Look out for giant triangles in space
09 April 2005
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
Marcus Chown
THE search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilisations.

"Artificial structures may be the best way for an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation to signal its presence to an emerging technology like ours," says Luc Arnold of the Observatory of Haute-Provence in France. And he believes that the generation of space-based telescopes now being designed will be able to spot them.

Arnold has studied the capabilities of space-based telescopes such as the European Space Agency's forthcoming Corot telescope and NASA's Kepler. These instruments will look for the telltale dimming of a star's light when a planet passes in front of it. They could also identify an artificial object the size of a planet, such as a lightweight solar sail, says Arnold. His work will be published in The Astrophysical Journal (www.arxiv.org/astro-ph/0503580).

Arnold has determined the characteristic transit signal that differently shaped objects would produce, including a Jupiter-sized equilateral triangle and a louvre - parallel slats with gaps between them. Corot and Kepler will be capable of distinguishing these objects from most planets, though they could still be confused with a ringed planet like Saturn, he says.

To ensure the signal is unambiguous, an alien civilisation would have to launch a number of objects into orbit around a star. As an example, Arnold imagines 11 objects orbiting a star in groups of one, two, three and five - the first prime numbers. The time interval between each group could also encode prime numbers if the objects were powered rather than orbiting freely. He thinks any civilisation that can engineer giant structures in space would probably not find this a problem.

Arnold believes that this type of signalling is at least as effective as broadcasting a message using a high-powered laser pulse or a radio signal, which SETI is searching for.

The best place to begin looking for artificial structures could be around dwarf stars. Their small size means they can be dimmed by the transit of a relatively small object, making them the best bet for an advanced civilisation wishing to announce itself.

“Space telescopes could identify an artificial object the size of a planet, such as a lightweight solar sail”But SETI researchers aren't changing tack just yet. "Arnold's proposal falls within the category of SETT - the search for extraterrestrial technology," says Paul Schuch, executive director of The SETI League in New Jersey. "SETT is entirely complementary to SETI, which is narrowly defined as the search for electromagnetic emissions from other technological societies. The SETI League actively encourages and enthusiastically endorses such research," he adds.

From issue 2494 of New Scientist magazine, 09 April 2005, page 11

 

[Anonymous]

Freeman Dyson suggested that we look for the infra-red signatures of his imaginary 'Dyson Sphere' almost as soon as he conceived them in 1959;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
no such signatures have yet been seen.

 

[ruffready]

Look For Extraterrestrial Civilizations -alternative method

Look For Extraterrestrial Civilizations
French astronomer suggests alternative method for signals search. Look For Extraterrestrial Civilizations (Don't Just Listen)
By Bill Christensen

posted: 15 April 2005
06:41 am ET

Should we be looking for extraterrestrial civilizations, rather than just listening for them, as we do in the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project? That is the suggestion of a French astronomer, Luc Arnold, in his paper Transit Lightcurve Signatures of Artificial Objects. He believes that the transit of large artificial objects in front of a sun could be a used for the emission of attention-getting signals.

In his paper, he describes the expected lightcurve signatures expected from passing objects of various shapes across a sun. The challenge is to use a shape that provides an unambiguous signature. In his 1970 classic Ringworld, science fiction author Larry Niven describes the discovery of an enormous artifact; a ring of material that completely surrounds a star, providing a staggering amount of living space. The alien species that discovered the star asks humans for their opinion on what they have found:

The ring was checkered. There were regular rectangular shadows along its blue back.

"Can you give us a better picture?"

"We can expand it," said the contralto voice. The G2 star jerked forward, then shot blazing off to the right, so that Louis was looking down on the lighted inner surface of the ring. Blurred as it was, Louis could only guess that the brighter, whiter areas might be cloud, that regions of faintly deeper blue might be land where lighter blue was sea.

But the shadowed areas were quite visible. The ring seemed to be laid out in rectangles: a long strip of glowing baby blue followed by a shorter strip of deep, navy blue, followed by another long strip of light blue. Dots and dashes.

"Something's causing those shadows," he said. "Something in orbit?"

"Yes, just that. Twenty rectangular shapes orbit in a Kemplerer rosette much nearer the primary. We do not know their purpose."

"You wouldn't. It's been too long since you had a sun. These orbiting rectangles must be there to separate night from day. Otherwise it would always be high noon on the ring."

Here's a view of the shadow squares, which are used to provide periodic darkness on the surface of the ring.
The ringworld and its shadow squares would also provide a light curve that would be recognized as artificial from a great distance.

Read more about the story at Look out for giant triangles in space; see more Ringworld art. Go for the hard stuff at Transit Lightcurve Signatures of Artificial Objects (pdf). Speaking of blocking out the sunlight, see the article on sf writer Gregory Benford's suggestion of reducing global warming by blocking sunlight.
article is here : http://space.com/businesstechnology/tec ... 50415.html

 

[ruffready]

seti

EXTRATERRESTRIAL MESSAGES AND THE CONTROVERSY THAT SURROUNDS THEM

Nine extraterrestrial messages were received in 1995, and there is good reason to believe that they were actually received two years earlier. These messages were posted in 1995 as a game on David Levine's website. Mr. Levine was a former NASA employee, and the "game messages" were linked to his website, from the SETI website.

SOURCE http://www.jerrypippin.com/UFO_Files_seti_messages.htm

 

[Anonymous]

A fairly common kind of artificial habitat might be the ring habitat as decribed by Forrest Bishop; these are like Niven's rings, or Iain Bank's orbitals, or the famous Halo from the game of the same name; but they are made from real-life materials, so are somewhat smaller.

Here is an image I have made of such a ring in transit in front of a star...

http://img66.echo.cx/img66/7061/friendlyquestion8xn.jpg

 

[Leaferne]

I know its not as cool as SETI, but consider running the United Devices Cancerbuster distrubuted ware.
It works on the same principle as the SETI ware, but it scans protein chains in order to find new drug cures for cancer. And lets face it, you've got more chance of getting the Big C than meeting aliens.
http://www.ud.com/home.htm

Would love to, but they're Windoze only. Fuck 'em.

I've been running the SETI one for a year or two now, but would love to know if there's a lesser-known network I can help, which is Mac-friendly.

 

[ruffready]

That's a nasty nasty word!!! :no-no:

Would love to, but they're Windoze only. Fuck 'em.

no more of that!!

 

[Leaferne]

Sorry ruff. I won't say W****** again.

 

[ruffready]

Ok, it's not good for the n ew bees

 

[Degrizzzz]

Re: Thought Experiment on the Premise of SETI

An analogy is the Victorians watching their letterboxes for a stray letter from an alien civilisation popping through. SETI is allowing us to watch a great many letterboxes and start looking for parcels and cards as well, unfortunately the aliens are using faxes.

Sorry about posting this here but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere else. It is a bit sciency.

Excellent post, couldnt agree more.

 

[Graylien]

An essay on Ufos and Ufology from Seti's Seth Shostak in Guardian Unlimited. As one might expect, he seems completely ignorant of both the psycho-social and paranormal/ultraterrestrial theories prevalent in European Ufology, and is under the impression that all ufologists think we are being invaded by little grey men from Zeta Reticuli.

The proof is out there ...

Seth Shostak is perfectly prepared to believe that aliens have visited Earth. Just give him one piece of solid evidence

Thursday August 18, 2005
The Guardian

The good news is that the latest polls confirm that roughly half of all Americans believe extraterrestrial life exists. The weird news is that a similar fraction think some of it is visiting Earth.

Several recent TV shows have soberly addressed the possibility that alien craft are violating our airspace, occasionally touching down long enough to allow their crews to conduct bizarre experiments on hapless citizens. While these shows tantalise viewers by suggesting that they are finally going to get to the bottom of the "UFO debate", they never do.

That's because the evidence is weak. During a recent show in which I participated, guest experts who have long studied UFOs argued for extraterrestrial presence by showing photographs of putative alien saucers at low altitudes. Some of these objects appeared as out-of-focus lights; others resembled hubcaps or frisbees.

Since the former are perforce ambiguous, the latter command more of my attention. How can we know they're not hubcaps, tossed into the air by a hoaxer with a camera? The reply from one expert: "these photographs pass muster". When quizzed on exactly which muster was mastered, his response was that "atmospheric effects give us a limit on the distance, and careful examination has ruled out photographic trickery". Well, the former is chancy, and relies on some assumption about atmospheric conditions (was it a foggy day in San Francisco?), and the latter proves nothing. A real shot of an airborne hubcap would be free of photographic trickery.

Additional evidence is "expert testimony". Pilots, astronauts, and others have all claimed to see odd craft. It's safe to say that these witnesses have seen something. But just because you don't recognise an aerial phenomenon doesn't mean it's an extraterrestrial visitor. That requires additional evidence that, so far, seems to be unconvincing.

What about those folks who claim to have been abducted? On the TV programme, the UFO experts offered photos of scoop marks decorating the arms and legs of human subjects, and claimed that these minor disfigurements were due to alien malfeasance. But even aside from the puzzling question of why beings from distant worlds would come to Earth to melon-ball the locals, this evidence was, once again, ambiguous. The scoops might be caused by aliens, but then again they might be cigarette burns.

When push came to shove, and when pressed as to whether there's compelling proof of extraterrestrial visitation, the experts on this show backed off by saying "well, we don't know where they come from. But something is definitely going on." The latter statement is hardly controversial. The former is goofy. If the saucers are not from outer space, where are they from? Belgium?

The bottom line is that the evidence for extraterrestrial visitors has not convinced many scientists. Very few academics are writing papers for refereed journals about alien craft or their occupants. Confronted with this uncomfortable fact, UFO experts take refuge in two explanations:

1. The material that would be convincing proof has been collected and hidden by the authorities. While appealing, this is an argument from ignorance, and perforce implies that every government in the world has efficiently squirrelled away all the best alien artefacts;

2. Scientists have refused to study this phenomenon. In other words, the scientists should blame themselves for the fact that the visitation hypothesis has failed to sway them. This is not only unfair, it is misguided. Sure, few researchers have themselves sifted through the stories, the videos, and the odd photos that comprise the evidence for alien presence. But they don't have to. This is akin to telling movie critics that films would be better if only they would pitch in behind the camera.

The burden of proof is on those making the claims, not those who find the data dubious. If there are investigators who are convinced that craft from other worlds are buzzing ours, then they should present the best evidence they have, and not resort to explanations that appeal to conspiratorial cover-ups or the failure of others to be open to the idea. The UFO advocates are asking us to believe something very important. After all, there could hardly be any discovery more dramatic than visitors from other worlds. If they could prove that the aliens are here, I would be as awestruck as anyone. But I still await a compelling Exhibit A.

· Seth Shostak is senior astronomer at the Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) institute, California

source

 

[bazizmaduno]

I don't think any advanced civilisation would use anything as slow as the speed of light to communicate over interstellar distances; but I don't know of anyway to intercept (or make) communications with quantuum entanglement...

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... &start=105