BB pal Kourosh Karimkhany sends word that SETI is getting their Allen Telescope Array back online. He's volunteering with the project, and explains:
As you know, back in April, they ran out of funds and had to put the ATA in hibernation. They did so at the exact worst moment possible, just as we're discovering dozens of planets in the habitable zones around their respective stars by the month. For the first time in its existence, SETI knows exactly where to point its telescopes -- if it had the money.
I have always been a huge astronomy geek and am a big believer in SETI. A bunch of us are helping them launch a site called SETIstars.org today to help SETI get private donations from the public.
A copy of the site relaunch announcement for setistars.org follows, below.
Today The SETI Institute announces the launch of SETIstars.org, a new initiative to bring the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) back online. The array comprises 42 telescopes in Northern California that scan for radio signals from outer space, contributing greatly to one of the most profound enterprises in human history: the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
Earlier this year, a lack of funds curtailed this search, forcing the ATA into hibernation. But public outcry over the shutdown has been enormous, surprising even longtime SETI Institute staff members, who remain optimistic about future prospects.
"We are very excited to be launching SETIstars.org today," said Jill Tarter, Director of The SETI Institute's Center for SETI Research, and winner of the 2009 TED Prize. "By putting this site online, we are taking the first step toward allowing the general public to take a more personal stake in the future of one of the most important scientific endeavors in the history of humankind."
Visitors to the website may donate directly, to support a $200,000 challenge that will bring the ATA out of hibernation. In addition to donating, visitors can learn more about the ATA and the SETIstars project.
"The launch of SETIstars could not come at a more crucial time," said Tarter. "Thanks to NASA's Kepler Mission, for the first time in human history we can now direct the telescope's scans towards planet candidates in the habitable zone around their parent star. It is exactly the wrong time for the telescope to go dark. But given the outpouring of support already, I'm invigorated by the idea that we will be able to continue the work."
SETI Institute research seeks answers to questions like "Are we alone?" and "How long can a species survive their own technology?"
Allen Telescope Array images courtesy SETI
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Those look like E.T. spacecrafts to me.
Come thither, Boingers! I just gave — you can do so for as little as $5. Very quick process. I especially encourage other women to give. It’s 90+ percent male donors at this point.
Should I be depressed that science needs to use Kickstarter in order to keep going while the WWE doesn’t seem to have any funding problems?
Depressed? Maybe outraged. Misanthropic, to be sure.
No need to be depressed – SETI doesn’t use the scientific method (no falsifiable hypothesis) so it doesn’t count as science. Counts as awesome fun though.
Here’s a question: We, earthlings, have been broadcasting our “terrestrial intelligence” to the universe since the 1920’s or so. Of course, these electromagnetic signals degrade in energy and fidelity as they travel farther towards the rest of the universe, eventually becoming indistinguishable from random, background signal. Has someone ever done a calculation to determine if *WE* could be heard out there? If an equivalent “Earth” was out there some eighty light-years away, with the equivalent array of dish telescopes, would they be able to pick up our signals? Or, how far away could we detect an equivalent “Earth” no matter how long they’d been broadcasting?
My question is not meant to be “terra-centric.” But our civilization has used the airwaves to talk to each other, and only a few attempts have been made to send a signal “out there.” If another civilization were to make that effort, what would be the relationship between their distance and the power they used to broadcast to produce a signal that we could pick up? I don’t know – I’m just wonderin’.
(Side note: Give SETI all the money they need.)
>> what would be the relationship between their distance and the power
Radio waves follow an inverse square law similar to most energy. For 2x distance, the signal is 1/4 as strong.
General, non-directional broadcasts aren’t what SETI looks for though. The signals would have to be pointed towards us with some kind of directional antenna and massive amounts of power to reach us and still be a legible message.
Well, the worst time would be a few years from now, once we’ve confirmed which ones are there. Or maybe after that…
So has the obvious sci-fi short-story already been writ?: after years of surprisingly generous private funding of her hunt for extraterrestrial signals Professor Cynthia Lessik is faced with irrefutable evidence that her patrons …are not from around here!
I heard a story on the radio that Voyager will soon be leaving the Heliosphere. It is possible it could pick up frequencies that we wouldn’t be able to receive here on earth. If so, can it communicate any of that information back to us? I know it’s only got a 160 baud connection, but maybe it can pick something up and record it on its 8-track tape and send it back to us. (I’m not joking about the 160 baud or 8-track tape – it was launched in the 70s!)
Let them find us…its cheaper.
Great idea, that’s the kind of “can do” attitude that brought the Americas to Spain in the fifteenth century or finally let those moon rocks fall to Earth intact. We could do something about it but it’s cheaper and awesomer to watch The Rock run around throwing clotheslines!
I loooove SETI and have been a TeamSETI member since day one. They are a super cool and have a free science colloquium every week at noon at their headquarters in Mountain View! They are part of the time-stream that leads to the exciting Star Trek future so be sure and support them. Otherwise the Morlocks will enslave and devour your descendents for all eternity.
How *does* SETI work?
SETI, shut up and take my money.