Academics and Amateurs Get Help from SETI in Hunt for Aliens
Ridley Scott’s film Alien will be rereleased this year on its 40th anniversary, representative of the fact that humanity’s interest in the search for extraterrestrial life is strong as ever. Astronomers and amateurs who search for extraterrestrial life can now submit their results and easily access all of the data gathered since 1960. TechnoSearch is a new online portal that will now disclose almost 60 years of data from SETI project.
SETI co-founder and former director Jill Tarter said that she began archiving information back when she was a graduate student. “Some of the original papers were presented at conferences, or appear in obscure journals that are difficult for newcomers to the SETI field to access,” she said. “‘I’m delighted that we now have a tool that can be used by the entire community and a methodology for keeping it current.”
Incidentally, Dr. Tarter was the inspiration for the lead character in the sci-fi book and later film Contact, where she was played by Jodie Foster.
“I’ve become convinced that TechnoSearch will become an important instrument for astronomers and amateurs interested in exploring the cosmos for indications of other technological civilisations,” said Andrew Garcia, a SETI student who worked with Dr. Tarter on the project. “We can’t know where to look for evidence tomorrow if we don’t know where we have already looked. TechnoSearch will help us chronicle where and how we’ve looked at the sky.”
TechnoSearch carries a slew of information including published papers, names of observers, objects observed and more. It includes some of the more famous discoveries, including Jocelyn Bell Burnell’s discovery of a pulsar in 1967. Astronomers now know that pulsars are rotating neutron stars, and not signs of alien life, as previously believed.
Another entry is the “Wow!” radio signal — the 1977 blast observed by Dr. Jerry Ehman through a radio telescope that was 30 times stronger than the background radiation. Also included in the database are the fossilized Martian microbes discovered in 1996 by NASA. While appearing quite lifelike in the photos, it is possible that the meteorite samples have been contaminated.
Among the discoveries of the recent years are Tabby’s Star, also known as KIC 8462852 and located 1,400 light years away, which dims at a faster rate than other stars. Recent studies, however, suggest that instead of aliens, it is a ring of dust that may be causing the rapid signals. In 2015, astronomers discovered that several Earth-like planets orbiting the Trappist-1 dwarf star may have water on their surface — a key component for life.
SETI recently released a video, admitting that while they haven’t found extraterrestrial life, new tools — including Laser SETI, a revolutionary new telescope — will help their search. Laser SETI will monitor the entire night skype continuously. And with access to TechnoSearch, astronomers and aficionados alike will help in the search by contributing their observations and ideas.
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