Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-l82ql Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-27T16:43:42.657Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Scheme for Targeting Optical SETI Observations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Seth Shostak  and
Ray Villard
Seth Shostak
Affiliation:
SETI Institute, 2035 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043, U.S.A.
Ray Villard
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, U.S.A.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In optical SETI (OSETI) experiments, it is generally assumed that signals will be deliberate, narrowly targeted beacons sent by extraterrestrial societies to large numbers of candidate star systems. If this is so, then it may be unrealistic to expect a high duty cycle for the received signal. Ergo, an advantage accrues to any OSETI scheme that realistically suggests where and when to search. In this paper, we elaborate a proposal (Castellano, Doyle, & McIntosh 2000) for selecting regions of sky for intensive optical SETI monitoring based on characteristics of our solar system that would be visible at great distance. This can enormously lessen the amount of sky that needs to be searched. In addition, this is an attractive approach for the transmitting society because it both increases the chances of reception and provides a large reduction in energy required. with good astrometric information, the transmitter need be no more powerful than an automobile tail light.

Type
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 409 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Castellano, T., Doyle, L., & McIntosh, D. 2000, in IAU Symp. 202 (IAU: Manchester), ref. Code E107.C Google Scholar
Ekers, R. D., Cullers, D. K., Billingham, J., & Scheffer, L. K. 2002, in SETI 2020: A Roadmap for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, (SETI Press: Mountain View, CA)Google Scholar
Goss Levi, B. 2002, Physics Today, 55, 19 Google Scholar
Henry, G., Marcy, G., Butler, P., & Vogt, S. 1999, ApJ, 529, L41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, P. 1998, The Technical Case for Optical and Infrared SETI, http:/seti.harvard.edu/oseti/tech.pdf Google Scholar
Makovetskii, P. V. 1977, Soviet Astronomy, 21, 251 Google Scholar
Shostak, G. S. 1997, in Astronomical and Biochemical Origins and the Search for Life in the Universe, ed. Cosmovici, C.B., Bowyer, S., & Werthimer, D. (Bologna: Editrice Compositori), 719 Google Scholar