#Seth Shostak

[fallensapphires]

Planets: Jupiter

Jupiter, a world far larger than Earth, is so warm that it currently radiates more internal heat than it receives from the Sun.

[ovnihoje]

Perito em busca de vida extraterrestre inteligente: “Nós a encontraremos”

Perito em busca de vida extraterrestre inteligente: “Nós a encontraremos”

Em 2014, o site The Conversation organizou uma sessão pública de perguntas e respostas no Reddit, na qual Seth Shostak, astrônomo sênior do Instituto SETI, explicou porque a busca por vida inteligente é tão importante e porque podemos encontrá-la em breve. Pergunta: Por que continuamos a busca? Por exemplo, não é verdade que as ondas de rádio se tornam quase indistinguíveis do ruído de fundo a…

[in-sightpublishing]

The Complexity of Simplicity

The Complexity of Simplicity

                    Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014 Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com  Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal Journal Founding: August 2, 2012 Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed Access: Electronic/Digital & Open…

[theofficialastronomy101]

During the latest hearing before the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee SETI scientists Seth Shostak and Dan Werthimer asserted that solid evidence for extraterrestrial life in our galaxy — or, at the very least, solid evidence for a definitive lack of it — will come within the next 5 years. It’s a bold claim for scientists to make on public record, but one that Shostak has made many times before (and he’s not particularly off-schedule either.) And with SETI’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) continually scanning the sky for any signals that appear intentional, exoplanets being discovered en masse, and new technology on deck that can further investigate a select few of their (hopefully) Earth-like atmospheres, the chances that alien life — if it’s out there — will be found are getting better and better each year.

[valiantranchcreatorsuitcase]

Przybylski's Star:

A Key to Alien Life?

The search for intelligent life beyond our planet, led by renowned astronomer Seth Shostak at California's SETI Institute, is a thrilling endeavor sparking enthusiasm in both the public and budding scientists. Shostak emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing not just the familiar, but also the unusually exotic cosmic phenomena as potential markers of advanced civilizations. He posits that considering the longevity of the universe, intelligent alien life, potentially millions or billions of years ahead of us, could exist.

Intriguingly, the strange 'Przybylski's Star,' discovered by Antoni Przybylski in 1960, warrants attention in this context. Located approximately 370 light-years away, this star's peculiar chemical composition and slow rotational period are nothing short of a cosmic riddle.

The star exhibits a spectrum showing low quantities of iron and nickel, but it is surprisingly rich in unusual elements such as Strontium, Holmium, Niobium, and others, including several short-lived actinide group elements. This abnormal presence of ultra-heavy elements has perplexed astronomers for years.

While theories suggest the presence of a neutron star companion could account for these heavy elements, no such star has been detected nearby. Some researchers propose that the actinides could be decay products of superheavy elements, contributing to an 'island of stability.' This could potentially mean the discovery of a new isotope observed in nature, not just in fleeting lab experiments.

Finally, it's intriguing to consider the possibility, as posited by researchers like Daniel Whitmire, David Wright, Carl Sagan, and Iosif Shklovskii, that advanced civilizations could use stars like Przybylski's Star to dispose of nuclear waste. This idea, while speculative, underscores the fascinating potential revelations in our quest to discover extraterrestrial intelligence.

"Przybylski's star stands as an intriguing astrophysical puzzle," states Wright on his AstroWright blog at Penn State. The star is renowned for its unusual elemental abundance patterns, compelling Wright to ponder their origins. He dives deep into the peculiarities of Przybylski's star, an Ap star, which disrupts the established norms.

These Ap stars, including Przybylski's star, are characterized by incredibly strong magnetic fields. This results in slow rotation, enabling the observation of every spectral feature of the elements in their atmosphere. Wright admits the uncertainty surrounding why only a fraction of A stars possess such intense fields and why their elemental abundance differs so starkly from the rest of the universe.

Wright points out that the majority of lines in Ap stars should be attributable to iron, yet Przybylski's star's iron abundance is significantly less than the Sun's. The star is also rich in rare elements like strontium, lanthanum, cerium, and others, which are usually present in minimal quantities. Wright posits that the star's mass doesn't exhibit unusual abundances, but its upper atmosphere does due to differentiation and stratification.

However, the strangeness of Przybylski's star doesn't end here. The star displays seemingly impossible abundance patterns, including the presence of short-lived actinides. Wright suggests that these nuclear reaction products must be continuously replenished, leaving the question of what kind of nuclear reactions could be occurring near the star's surface.

He proposes three possible solutions. The first suggests the presence of a neutron star, which could bombard heavy elements in Przybylski's star's atmosphere. The second revolves around isotopes with potentially longer half-lives than initially assumed. The last is deemed rather imaginative, yet still a possibility to consider.

When the isotope decays, its by-products, all less massive but still actinides, are visible in the star before they decay. The authors propose that the parent isotope could be 298Fl, 304Ubn or 310Ubh. But where would it come from?

Dzuba et al. suggest that it could be the product of a supernova explosion. The half-life of the progenitor isotope might be short enough to be present in a young A star but very rare or absent on Earth-probably, to produce it requires some type of supernova that was not in the mix that generated the elements that make up Earth. If so, it could be common in other stars and planets, but just very difficult to detect in anything other than an Ap star.

The third hypothesis: aliens. The last of the three solutions I know of, Wright says in a whispered but never published voice, is that the heavy elements would be the product of artificial nuclear reactions. "Here on Earth, someone has proposed disposing of nuclear waste by throwing it into the Sun." In fact, he notes, "Whitmire and Wright proposed that alien civilizations could use their stars as repositories for their fissile waste. In fact, in 1966, Sagan and Shklovskii in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe proposed that aliens might throw artificial elements into their stars to attract attention."

As Harvard's Avi Loeb concluded, coming to Wright's rescue, "the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life is no more speculative than extra dimensions or dark energy."

Przybylski's Star:

A Key to Alien Life?

The search for intelligent life beyond our planet, led by renowned astronomer Seth Shostak at California's SETI Institute, is a thrilling endeavor sparking enthusiasm in both the public and budding scientists. Shostak emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing not just the familiar, but also the unusually exotic cosmic phenomena as potential markers of advanced civilizations. He posits that considering the longevity of the universe, intelligent alien life, potentially millions or billions of years ahead of us, could exist.

Intriguingly, the strange 'Przybylski's Star,' discovered by Antoni Przybylski in 1960, warrants attention in this context. Located approximately 370 light-years away, this star's peculiar chemical composition and slow rotational period are nothing short of a cosmic riddle.

The star exhibits a spectrum showing low quantities of iron and nickel, but it is surprisingly rich in unusual elements such as Strontium, Holmium, Niobium, and others, including several short-lived actinide group elements. This abnormal presence of ultra-heavy elements has perplexed astronomers for years.

While theories suggest the presence of a neutron star companion could account for these heavy elements, no such star has been detected nearby. Some researchers propose that the actinides could be decay products of superheavy elements, contributing to an 'island of stability.' This could potentially mean the discovery of a new isotope observed in nature, not just in fleeting lab experiments.

Finally, it's intriguing to consider the possibility, as posited by researchers like Daniel Whitmire, David Wright, Carl Sagan, and Iosif Shklovskii, that advanced civilizations could use stars like Przybylski's Star to dispose of nuclear waste. This idea, while speculative, underscores the fascinating potential revelations in our quest to discover extraterrestrial intelligence.

"Przybylski's star stands as an intriguing astrophysical puzzle," states Wright on his AstroWright blog at Penn State. The star is renowned for its unusual elemental abundance patterns, compelling Wright to ponder their origins. He dives deep into the peculiarities of Przybylski's star, an Ap star, which disrupts the established norms.

These Ap stars, including Przybylski's star, are characterized by incredibly strong magnetic fields. This results in slow rotation, enabling the observation of every spectral feature of the elements in their atmosphere. Wright admits the uncertainty surrounding why only a fraction of A stars possess such intense fields and why their elemental abundance differs so starkly from the rest of the universe.

Wright points out that the majority of lines in Ap stars should be attributable to iron, yet Przybylski's star's iron abundance is significantly less than the Sun's. The star is also rich in rare elements like strontium, lanthanum, cerium, and others, which are usually present in minimal quantities. Wright posits that the star's mass doesn't exhibit unusual abundances, but its upper atmosphere does due to differentiation and stratification.

However, the strangeness of Przybylski's star doesn't end here. The star displays seemingly impossible abundance patterns, including the presence of short-lived actinides. Wright suggests that these nuclear reaction products must be continuously replenished, leaving the question of what kind of nuclear reactions could be occurring near the star's surface.

He proposes three possible solutions. The first suggests the presence of a neutron star, which could bombard heavy elements in Przybylski's star's atmosphere. The second revolves around isotopes with potentially longer half-lives than initially assumed. The last is deemed rather imaginative, yet still a possibility to consider.

When the isotope decays, its by-products, all less massive but still actinides, are visible in the star before they decay. The authors propose that the parent isotope could be 298Fl, 304Ubn or 310Ubh. But where would it come from?

Dzuba et al. suggest that it could be the product of a supernova explosion. The half-life of the progenitor isotope might be short enough to be present in a young A star but very rare or absent on Earth-probably, to produce it requires some type of supernova that was not in the mix that generated the elements that make up Earth. If so, it could be common in other stars and planets, but just very difficult to detect in anything other than an Ap star.

The third hypothesis: aliens. The last of the three solutions I know of, Wright says in a whispered but never published voice, is that the heavy elements would be the product of artificial nuclear reactions. "Here on Earth, someone has proposed disposing of nuclear waste by throwing it into the Sun." In fact, he notes, "Whitmire and Wright proposed that alien civilizations could use their stars as repositories for their fissile waste. In fact, in 1966, Sagan and Shklovskii in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe proposed that aliens might throw artificial elements into their stars to attract attention."

As Harvard's Avi Loeb concluded, coming to Wright's rescue, "the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life is no more speculative than extra dimensions or dark energy."

Science Pages ⚛️♒♾️. VEIT SCHWIERTZ

[spacenutspod]

Is humanity alone in the Universe? Is anyone out there? Where is everybody? And what happens if and when we make contact with them? These and other questions were the subjects of the 2023 Penn State SETI Symposium hosted by the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center (PSETI) from June 19th-22nd, 2023. The event featured prominent speakers from various research fields and disciplines discussing the challenges, history, and future of SETI. In the great tradition established by Dr. Frank Drake, they also addressed key issues related to the search for intelligent life and what we might find someday. The summit opened with a series of overviews, a review of the past year (since the last summit), and a presentation by Dr. Rebecca Charbonneau, a science historian and Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Her presentation, titled “Frank Drake and his Place in History,” provided a retrospective on the life and accomplishments of famed radio astronomer and SETI pioneer Dr. Frank Drake (for whom the Drake Equation is named), how he altered the character of the field, and how history will remember him. The PSETI Center actively collaborates with other institutions, including the Breakthrough Listen Laboratory at the Berkeley SETI Research Center and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. While originally inspired by the NASA Technosignature Workshop held in 2018 (which many members of the PSETI Center attended), the first SETI Summit did not occur until 2022 due to the COVID pandemic. This year marked the second annual summit and included Plenary Sessions in which experts discussed the history of SETI and its contributors, Breakout Sessions that addressed ethical issues, and results from some of the latest searches for technosignatures, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions. The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico and infographic of the Arecibo Message (left). Credit: Seth Shostak/SETI Institute/Associated Press A Pioneer On September 2nd, 2022, r Dr. Frank Donald Drake passed away at the age of 92. Drake is perhaps best known for his probabilistic argument that calculates the number of extraterrestrial civilizations (ETCs) that humanity could communicate with – the Drake Equation. But his contributions to science and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) go far beyond that. In addition to mounting the first-ever SETI experiment (Project Ozma), he was integral to the most important attempt to Message Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) – the Arecibo Message. In honor of Drake, Dr. Rebecca Charbonneau – a science historian and Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory – delivered a lecture at the recent Penn State SETI Symposium. The lecture, titled “Frank Drake and his Place in History,” focused on Drake’s life, accomplishments, his place in history, and how future generations will remember him. One thing she highlighted, which she knew from personal experience, was the man’s kindness. This impression only deepened upon reviewing the NRAOs archives, which provided multiple examples and his warmth and friendly nature. As she indicated, they also revealed that Drake was an early champion for women in science: “At NRAO, we have a summer student program. It includes things like an NSF-funded REU experience, but also undergraduate and graduate internships. And this has been happening since 1960, so it’s probably one of the oldest astronomy student programs in the United States. Frank was the first summer student program coordinator at NRAO in 1960, and he actually advocated for women being allowed to participate in the first ever class of summer students. He was highly and strongly discouraged by the [NRAO] deputy director at the time. He was told that it was a ‘waste of our funds to have summer students in the program who are women,’ because we would just get pregnant and not go into the field and do anything. And Frank pushed back against it.” And, as Dr. Charbonneau said, two of his first students – Elen Gunderson and Margaret Hurley – assisted Dr. Drake with organizing Project Ozma, demonstrating the valuable contributions of women in science. Another major issue Dr. Charbonneau addressed was the title often attributed to Drake – the “Father of SETI” – even though he was not the first scientist to search for evidence of intelligent life in the cosmos. Frank Drake by the Green Bank Telescope. Credit: NRAO/NSF/AUI “Father of SETI” Whereas Project Ozma is often credited as being the first SETI project (and Drake the first SETI scientist), there were historical antecedents to this experiment that are often overlooked. At the heart of it, said Charbonneau, lies the problem of definitions and qualifiers, which do not clarify the issue one bit: “People have been thinking about extraterrestrial inelligence for millennia, as early as the Greek atomists wodnering about the ‘plurality of worlds.’ And so, one might be tempted to say ‘Okay, well SETI is when we first started actually looking. And Project Ozma is the first SETI project.’ But that’s not quite right either, because if you go through the historical record, there are a number of cases where you an find people who made (*what I call) ‘search attempts’ – or, at least, search proposals.” The examples Charbonneau cited included 19th-century mathematician Karl Gauss’, who proposed creating a giant petroglyph of the Pythagorean Theorem that he believed would be visible to intelligent beings living on the Moon. There were also the experiments of early radio pioneers like Guglielmo Marconi, Thomas Edison, and Nikolai Tesla, who reported detecting signals with their wireless telegraphy equipment – which they believed were from Mars or outer space – and recommended using emerging radio technology for interplanetary communication. Then there were Percival Lowell’s telescopic observations of Mars in the late-19th and early-20th centuries in search of “canals” and other indications of an advanced civilization. And there was the “National Radio Silence Day” campaign led by American astronomer David Peck Todd and the U.S. Naval Observatory in August of 1924. Coinciding with a Mars Opposition that brought the two planets to the closest they��d been in a century, people were encouraged to turn off their radios for five minutes on the hour, every hour, for three days (August 21st to 23rd) so Todd and his colleagues could “listen” for signals from Mars with a dirigible-mounted radio receiver. But in the end, said Charbonneau, Project Ozma still “feels” like it was the first SETI experiment because it shifted the character of the science. She argued that it comes down not to a change in ideas or tools but timing, as it happened during the Cold War and the early days of the Space Race. “This was a moment in time where there was a great public consciousness about space, and it was the first moment in space when there were the first artificial signals in space,” she said. The events of this period – the first satellites to space, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and efforts to send the first humans into orbit – fundamentally altered the nature of what the scientific community and general public were interested in. Hopes for achieving some of the greatest dreams of humanity (setting foot on another celestial body) intermingled with fears of nuclear annihilation. The Drake Equation, a mathematical formula for the probability of finding life or advanced civilizations in the Universe. Credit: University of Rochester Longevity of Our Civilization Furthermore, Charbonneau posited that Frank’s greatest contribution was not Project Ozma but the Drake Equation. To recap, the Equation states that the number of civilizations in the Milky Way that humanity can communicate with (N) comes down to the rate of star formation in our galaxy (R*), the fraction of those stars with planetary systems (fp), the fraction of those planets that are habitable (ne), the fraction of planets where life will emerge (fe), the fraction of planets that will develop intelligent life (fi), the fraction of civilizations that will develop transmission technology (fc), the length of time these civilizations will transmit signals to space (L). Mathematically, the Equation is expressed as follows: N = R* x fp x ne x fe x fi x fc x L What is particularly special about the Drake Equation, said Charbonneau, is that it changed the character of how we think about extraterrestrial life and the existence of our species and planet. Once again, this resulted from living in an age when nuclear annihilation was not just considered a possibility but a constant threat. In this respect, she claims that the most significant part of the Drake Equation is the variable that expresses the longevity of civilizations (L) as a measure of their detectability: “Suddenly, with the development of the atom bomb and the Cold War, we were for the first time capable of not just destroying our civilization. This is not about the Fall of Rome, this is about the end of our entire species, and indeed, perhaps our enire planet. And because of that, L is what really changed he character of how we think about SETI. And I think that Frank agreed with that.” There is certainly a case to be made for this. As we explored in a previous article, it has been suggested that humanity has not heard from any extraterrestrial civilizations (the Fermi Paradox) because they are all dead. A slight variation on this theory is The Brief Window Hypothesis, which asserts that communicating with an ETC is a matter of timing, and if we’re not in the right window, we will miss their transmissions. There’s also the Great Filter Hypothesis, which contends that something in the cosmos could prevent life from reaching an advanced stage of development (the point where their presence and activities would be noticed). This “filter” could be anything from natural causes (flare activity, gamma-ray bursts, etc.) to intelligent life being prone to self-destruction (nuclear war, ecological damage, etc.). When examined through the lens of history, it becomes apparent that SETI is very much influenced by the time period in which it takes place. By conducting his pioneering work in the early 1960s and adopting an approach that appreciated the complexity of searching for evidence of intelligent life, Drake helped establish frameworks and practices still in use to this day. The SETI Institute is hosting a series of workshops as part of the A Sign in Space project. Credit: SETI Institute The “Comic Mirror” As a final note, Charbonneau addressed the nature of SETI and a common cliche that is often raised. This is known as the “Cosmic Mirror,” which essentially states that the field of SETI tells us more about our civilization than it does about extraterrestrials. While this claim is arguable, given that humanity is the only technologically-dependent civilization we know of, Charbonneau characterized it as “a bit hoaky,” likening it instead to a “prism.” This is especially true where Project Ozma, the Arecibo Message, and the legacy of Frank Drake are concerned. As Charbonneau illustrated, the earliest experiments were plagued by examples of projection and mirroring. This included Marconi’s belief that he could talk to Martian in Morse Code using his telegraph, as it was the established means of communicating at a distance in his time. Percival Lowell’s search for major infrastructure on Mars was similar in that it coincided with the U.S. digging of the Panama Canal in Latin America while the British had finished work on the Suez Canal a few decades prior. In both instances, they were looking for signatures that reflected what they saw going on in the world at the time. Frank, in contrast, was “refracting” our world onto extraterrestrial civilizations. In the process, he changed how people imagine our planet’s future (and those of potential extraterrestrial civilizations) in a way that highlighted our hopes and fears. And that, said Charbonneau, is a very powerful tool that we are still discussing, debating, and writing about today: “What are we talking about at this conference? Artificial intelligence, pollution SETI, atmospheric technosignatures. Our present concerns are showing up again in our ideas and the Drake Equation, L – the medium through which our ideas are passing through – affect the character of our search. And so I think that that is Frank Drake’s legacy. I think that he is a fantastic innovator, and I think that he has radically shifted the way think not only about worlds out there, but our own.” Check out the 2023 Penn State SETI Symposium homepage and click on the Agenda option to access videos and abstracts of the many presentations. The post Penn State SETI Symposium Opens with Commemoration of Dr. Frank Drake appeared first on Universe Today.

[arquivoufo]

Cientista do SETI refuta as alegações de OVNIs sem provas sólidas

O astrônomo sênior do Instituto SETI, Seth Shostak, expressou sua falta de impressão em relação às alegações feitas por David Grusch sobre a recuperação de UFOs e “biológicos não humanos” . Shostak criticou as afirmações feitas por Grusch durante uma audiência do subcomitê devido à falta de evidências corroborativas. Grusch afirmou ter entrevistado dezenas de testemunhas que alegaram ter visto…

[hobbyspacer]

The Space Show this week - July.10.2023

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week: 1. Tuesday, July. 11, 2023; 7 pm PST (9 pm CST, 10 pm EST): We welcome Matt Bille with Kerri Westburg on the Guardian Scout project for Space Force launching and training. 2. Hotel Mars - Wednesday, July. 12, 2023; 1:00 pm PST (3:00 pm CST, 4:00 pm EST): Anatoly Zak of RussianSpaceWeb.com will talk with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about Roscosmos training Russian troops for the Ukraine war. 3. Friday, July.14, 2023; 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am-1 pm CST, 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome Manuel Cuba of Helix Space in Luxembourg. 4. Sunday, July.16, 2023; 12-1:30 pm PST (2-3:30 pm CST, 3-4:30 pm EST): We welcome Dr. Arun Sharma of Cedars Sinai in Los Angles to discuss their program for sending stem cells to space for basic medical and science research. Some recent shows: ** Sunday, July.9.2023 - Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems gave fusion industry updates plus the latest on the fusion Princeton Satellite is working on. We talked about fusion in general, the government and fusion, other private companies, fusion in space and more. https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4051-BWB-2023-07-09.mp3 ** Friday, July.7.2023 - Jean-Francois Gauthier of the GHGSat (Green House Gas Satellite) project discussed methane and other gas detection satellites, the industry seeking such leak detection, data usage including for climate change purposes and much more. Other topics of interest also discussed. https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4050-BWB-2023-07-07.mp3 ** Hotel Mars - Friday, July.7.2023 - Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman of MIT talked with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about ... MOXIE, the experiment making O2 on Mars. Our two segment discussion was wide ranging regarding O2 and its needs on Mars, plus timing for possible commercial Mars operations and humans to Mars. https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4049-BWB-2023-07-07.mp3 ** Sunday, July.2.2023 - Open lines program covered Lots of different topics, many callers, several program emails. Great discussions on a variety of space subjects and events. https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4048-BWB-2023-07-02.mp3 ** Friday, June.30.2023 -  Dr. Angie Bukley and Dr. Josef Koller from the Aerospace Corporation discussed space safety involved in "all segments of the space industry plus we spent time on rescue". https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4047-BWB-2023-06-30.mp3 ** Hotel Mars - Wednesday, June.29.2023 - Anatoly Zak of  RussianSpaceWeb.com talked with John Batchelor and David Livingston about "the upcoming Russian mission to the Moon with their Luna-Glob lander finally ready for prime time having been started back in the 1990's". https://thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4046-BWB-2023-06-28.mp3 ** Sunday, June.25.2023 - Dr. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute discussed "SETI news and updates, using radio and optical seti for searches and more". https://www.thespaceshow.com/sites/default/files/shows/4045-BWB-2023-06-25.mp3 ** See also: * The Space Show Archives * The Space Show Newsletter * The Space Show Shop The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - Dr. David Livingston === Amazon Ads === When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach === Critical Mass (A Delta-v Novel) Read the full article

[eksopolitiikka]

Asiantuntija: ’Me tulemme löytämään elämää Maan ulkopuolelta’

The Conversation järjesti Redditissä julkisen kyselytunnin, jossa SETI-instituutin vanhempi tähtitieteilijä Seth Shostak selitti, miksi älyllisen elämän etsiminen on niin tärkeää ja miksi voimme pian löytää sitä. Kysymys – Miksi jatkamme etsintöjä? Eikö esimerkiksi ole totta, että radioaallot muuttuvat lähes erottamattomiksi taustahälystä vain muutaman valovuoden päässä niiden alkuperästä? Vastaus – Voimme havaita radioaaltoja miljardien valovuosien päästä, […] from _| Eksopolitiikka.fi |_ https://ift.tt/HQJagCm via IFTTT

[buddiestonki]

Alien news boadcast

One way we might find distant aliens is through detection of their radio signals, the subject of SETI's tireless searches using the Allen Telescope Array at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in California. But intelligent life could make giant lasers or radio transmitters, so you might be able to hear them from farther away," Shostak said. "Microbes can make oxygen in the atmosphere. And even though there's probably far less intelligent life in the universe than there is microbial life, intelligent extraterrestrials could potentially broadcast their presence over much greater distances. SETI scans the skies daily for radio signals that might be produced by forms of intelligent life. However, even though microbes may well be the first "aliens" that we'll encounter, that doesn't rule out the possibility of detecting intelligent extraterrestrial communications, Shostak told Live Science. And it just makes sense that if there's something out there that it'd be microbial." "Those who are paying attention know how much habitable real estate is out there. "With all the news about exoplanets, people are primed for this," Wall said. Today, an announcement about discovering extraterrestrial microbes is far more likely to promote fascination than panic, he said. A stronger possibility is that our first encounter with alien life will be through finding microbes from other worlds, which are far more likely to be common across all the cosmos than intelligent organisms, said Wall, who is a senior writer at Live Science's sister site. An improbable number of variables would have to fall into place for that to happen. Alien microbes, not alien monstersĪ militaristic alien attack would involve extraterrestrials that are not only intelligent and technically advanced, but who also know that humans exist and can travel to our solar system, Wall told Live Science. In fact, the violent episode Welles described is by far the least likely scenario for how humans might first encounter extraterrestrial life, according to science writer Michael Wall, author of "Out There: A Scientific Guide to Alien Life, Antimatter and Human Space Travel (For the Cosmically Curious)" (Grand Central Publishing, Nov. All this suggested that if we did have intelligent cosmic company in the universe, it wasn't on Mars - or even in our solar system, he explained. "Certainly, by the late 1930s, no one believed it.There was increasing knowledge from astronomers: Mars has a very thin atmosphere there's not much oxygen we don't see any liquid water on the surface," Shostak said. While radio listeners may have fallen for the tale of a Martian invasion, space scientists of the day were already well aware that Mars wasn't capable of harboring a thriving civilization of intelligent aliens, Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in California, told Live Science. (Image credit: New York Daily News Archive/Getty) If you like the feeling of superiority that comes from knowing you can crush the ignorant with your understanding of Earth things, you’ll like our show.On October 31, 1938, the front page of the New York newspaper the Daily News noted the panic sparked by Welles' broadcast. They’re aliens.įill in the blank: If you like _, you’ll like our show. Why should it be yours?ĭennis McNicholas: While ordinary Earth television offers you a kaleidoscopic array of idiots sharing poorly informed opinions on the events of the day, only Alien News Desk features idiots with a legitimate excuse for the stupid nonsense they say. Showrunner Dennis McNicholas (like Forte, an SNL veteran) reveals why we should be over the moon for megaproducer Lorne Michaels‘s latest production. (Describing teens taking selfies with their phones, Van Void says, “Garishly dressed adolescents try to seduce inanimate box.”) They try to explain Earthlings’ strange, real-life doings to the rest of the universe. On the cable channel’s first original late-night animated series, Drexx Drudlaar (voiced by Last Man on Earth‘s Will Forte, right) and Tuva Van Void ( Saturday Night Live cast member Heidi Gardner) are extraterrestrial coanchors of a topical show. Here are a couple of aliens Syfy is betting viewers will welcome into their homes.

[thecentroitalianoricerche]

Frank Drake, il primo cacciatore di alieni

Frank Drake, il primo cacciatore di alieni

L'influente astronomo – scomparso il 2 settembre – ha gettato le basi dello studio dei segni di vita extraterrestri e ha contribuito a rendere il campo dell'astrobiologia quello che è oggi

Frank Drake, figura di spicco dell'astronomia planetaria e dell'astrobiologia che ha ispirato la fondazione del Seti, il programma dedicato alla ricerca della vita intelligente extraterrestre, è morto lo scorso 2 settembre all'età di 92 anni. "Frank è stato essenzialmente il pioniere del campo della ricerca della vita aliena come impresa scientifica, essendo il primo a condurre effettivamente esperimenti di questo genere", ha dichiarato Bill Diamond, presidente del Seti, organizzazione di ricerca senza scopo di lucro, dalla sua sede centrale a Mountain View in California. Drake è nato a Chicago nel 1930. Ha studiato ingegneria fisica alla Cornell University e poi ha prestato servizio come ufficiale responsabile delle apparecchiature elettroniche su un incrociatore della Marina statunitense per tre anni. In seguito ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in astronomia ad Harvard. Ha iniziato a ricercare prove dell'esistenza di vita extraterrestre nel 1960, quando lavorava per il National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Nrao) ai telescopi di Green Bank, in West Virginia. A sua insaputa, nel 1959, una coppia di fisici aveva pubblicato una ricerca che ipotizzava quanto lontano potessero viaggiare i segnali radio inviati da civiltà extraterrestri e se fossero ancora rilevabili da un ricevitore sulla Terra. "Si scoprì che la distanza era di anni luce – afferma Seth Shostak, astronomo senior del Seti –. Forse lo spazio pullulava di segnali, ma non li avevamo mai cercati". Il Progetto Ozma e l'equazione di Drake

Drake aveva già iniziato a compiere vari tentativi in questa direzione. Nel 1960 ottenne l'approvazione dell'Nrao per il Progetto Ozma (dal nome della principessa di Il Mago di Oz), il primo tentativo di ricerca sistematica di segnali alieni. Ogni giorno, per alcune ore, puntò un radiotelescopio di ventisei metri nella struttura su Tau Ceti e su una manciata di altre stelle, alla ricerca di picchi o fluttuazioni al di sopra del rumore di fondo che potessero rivelarsi segni di una trasmissione intenzionale. Si sintonizzò su una particolare gamma di frequenze, in particolare una vicina alla linea di emissione dell'idrogeno a 21 centimetri (la linea spettrale della radiazione elettromagnetica creata da un cambiamento nello stato energetico degli atomi di idrogeno neutri, ndt). Normalmente, si tratta di una parte “tranquilla” dello spettro – la maggior parte dei mondi ha poche emissioni in quella gamma – che quindi avrebbe potuto essere usata come "frequenza di chiamata" naturale. Ma a parte un falso allarme, probabilmente dovuto a un aereo, Drake e i suoi colleghi hanno rilevato solo elettricità statica. Sebbene l'esperimento di Green Bank non avesse portato all'individuazione di alcun messaggio alieno, aveva mostrato come cercarli. L'Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze contattò Drake per organizzare una conferenza sull'argomento. Nel 1961 l'evento riunì un gruppo influente ed eclettico di scienziati, tra cui gli autori dell'articolo del 1959, un giovane Carl Sagan – che sarebbe poi diventato un assiduo collaboratore di Drake – e il chimico Melvin Calvin, un ricercatore specializzato sull'intelligenza dei delfini. In quell'occasione, quest'ultimo scoprì di aver vinto il premio Nobel. Durante la conferenza, Drake iniziò a sviluppare una formula fondamentale che in seguito divenne nota come Equazione di Drake. Utilizzata ancora oggi in varie forme, questa formula cerca di stimare il numero di civiltà extraterrestri esistenti in grado di comunicare e che potrebbero tentare di inviarci messaggi. Le sue variabili includono il periodo di nascita delle stelle, l'abbondanza di pianeti che orbitano attorno ad esse, il numero di quelli che sono abitabili, la porzione di quelli su cui potrebbe svilupparsi la vita, la quantità di civiltà aliene che potrebbero trasmettere segnali rilevabili e la durata stimata di tali civiltà. Mentre le variabili relative a stelle e pianeti possono essere circoscritte con una certa precisione, nessuno sa davvero per quanto sopravvivano le civiltà intelligenti. Dopo tutto, abbiamo solo civiltà terrestri da cui estrapolare delle stime e, sebbene alcune abbiano prosperato per millenni, gli esseri umani sono una specie giovanissima per il cosmo (e ciononostante, hanno già minacciato la loro stessa esistenza con guerre nucleari e cambiamenti climatici e non sanno ancora come deviare gli asteroidi assassini). "Sarebbero lecito dire che l'equazione sia inutile, ma non è vero, perché è un buon modo per mettere ordine nella nostra ignoranza", sostiene Shostak. Questo dimostra che le domande sulla vita intelligente e i nostri sforzi per trovarla devono riunire anche altri campi, tra cui l'astrofisica, la geologia, la biologia e la sociologia. I messaggi nello spazio Gli sforzi di Drake per entrare in contatto con altri mondi non si sono fermati con la fine del Progetto Ozma. Con l'invenzione della radiodiffusione, l'umanità ha accidentalmente inviato segnali nello spazio, attraverso programmi televisivi e canzoni. Ma questi segnali si disperdono in diverse direzioni e potrebbero non essere rilevabili da lontano. Così, nel 1974, mentre era direttore dell'Osservatorio di Arecibo a Porto Rico, Drake utilizzò un radiotelescopio per trasmettere il primo messaggio interstellare deliberatamente inviato dalla Terra. Attraverso il codice binario di Arecibo (1.679 bit binari che rappresentano uno e zero), utilizzò impulsi di frequenza per inviare un messaggio in direzione dell'ammasso globulare M13, che includeva pittogrammi di una doppia elica di Dna, un diagramma del sistema solare e immagini di un essere umano e di Arecibo (sua figlia Nadia Drake, giornalista scientifica, si è poi occupata del 50esimo anniversario del telescopio per Wired US). Drake ha anche partecipato a due tentativi di inviare messaggi tangibili nello spazio. All'inizio degli anni settanta, insieme a Sagan e altri ancora, progettò piccole placche metalliche da trasportare a bordo delle navicelle Pioneer 10 e 11 della Nasa, che raffiguravano una coppia di esseri umani e la posizione della Terra nella Via Lattea. Hanno anche collaborato al progetto Voyager Golden Records. Le due navicelle trasportano ciascuna un disco metallico contenente suoni, immagini e musica dalla Terra, oltre a un lettore e alle istruzioni per l'uso, nel caso in cui un giorno gli alieni li trovassero. Oggi, le navicelle continuano a percorrere miliardi di chilometri al di là del sistema solare, portando con sé i messaggi di Drake. Il contributo all'astrobiologia e il Seti Negli anni Sessanta e Settanta, Drake ha svolto un ruolo fondamentale nel far sì che l'astrobiologia, allora chiamata esobiologia, diventasse un campo di studio sistematico delle origini e dell'evoluzione della vita su mondi alieni: "Tutti stavano iniziando a riflettere sul ruolo dell'acqua allo stato liquido. Poteva esserci un altro solvente liquido - ammoniaca, cloro - a una pressione atmosferica diversa da quella terrestre?", ricorda Bill Nye, amministratore delegato dell'associazione no-profit Planetary Society, cofondata da Sagan nel 1980. "Si potrebbe sostenere che tutte le speculazioni sull'astrobiologia siano una forma formale o informale dell'equazione di Drake". Nel 1984, Thomas Pierson fondò il programma Seti per cercare di ottenere finanziamenti e sostenere le ricerche dell'astronoma Jill Tarter, tra gli altri. In seguito Drake è diventato presidente dell'istituto, ruolo che ha ricoperto fino al 2010. Il Seti ha lanciato una serie di progetti innovativi, tra cui l'Allen Telescope Array – un sistema di quarantadue antenne dedicate esclusivamente alla ricerca di forme di vita aliene – e il progetto LaserSeti, che scandaglia il cielo notturno alla ricerca di lampi di luce che non provengano da fonti astrofisiche. I loro collaboratori del Berkeley Seti Research Center hanno condotto una delle ricerche più note sui segnali extraterrestri, il SETI@home, un progetto che fino al 2020 ha permesso a volontari di dedicare i momenti di inattività dei loro computer domestici all'analisi dei dati del Seti. Nel 2006, Drake ha lavorato con il Carl Sagan Center, un gruppo di 75 scienziati che portano avanti la ricerca di vita extraterrestre e studiano l'astrobiologia, e ha fatto parte del consiglio di amministrazione del Seti Institute fino ai suoi settant'anni. Diamond e Shostak, che hanno lavorato spesso con Drake, lo descrivono come un uomo tranquillo, gentile, attento e molto intelligente: "Era un gentiluomo molto umile per essere una persona che ha avuto un tale impatto sulla scienza e sull'astrobiologia. Era semplicemente un essere umano adorabile", ha commentato Diamond. Negli ultimi anni, gli scienziati hanno iniziato a dare un senso all'equazione di Drake e a misurarne i parametri in modo più preciso. Per esempio, gli astronomi ora comprendono meglio la vita delle stelle. Grazie alle ricerche con il telescopio Kepler della Nasa sappiamo che i pianeti – compresi quelli nella "zona abitabile" – sono più numerosi di quanto pensassimo. Influenza ed eredità I ricercatori ora stanno esplorando l'equazione in nuovi modi: "L'equazione di Drake è emblematica per descrivere e illustrare la ricerca di segni di vita da parte di alieni civilizzati che dispongono di strumenti di comunicazione radio. Ho preso la sua equazione e l'ho rielaborata per la ricerca di segni di vita, non da parte di extraterrestri intelligenti, ma piuttosto da batteri che emettono gas che si accumulano nell'atmosfera di un pianeta", rivela Sara Seager, astronoma del Mit che lavora a diversi progetti di ricerca sui pianeti. Seager ha lavorato in un team che ha studiato la possibilità che la fosfina su Venere potesse corrispondere a un segno di vita. Tra gli altri strumenti per la ricerca di forme di vita ci sono il rover Perseverance della Nasa, che ha il compito di cercare tracce di batteri su Marte, e le future missioni previste sulla luna di Giove Europa e sulla luna di Saturno Encelado. Gruppi diversi hanno anche cercato tracce tecnologiche di civiltà aliene, come la presenza di smog su pianeti lontani. Alla ricerca di vita extraterrestre contribuiranno sicuramente anche i nuovi telescopi spaziali come il Tess, o Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, lanciato nel 2018 alla ricerca di nuovi mondi, e il James Webb Space Telescope, che potrebbe essere usato per individuare il vapore acqueo nelle atmosfere dei pianeti e i potenziali segni di vita nei terreni sottostanti. Ma la parte più importante dell'eredità di Drake, secondo Nye, è che ora le persone si pongono spesso domande grandi e profonde sul posto dell'umanità nell'universo: "Da dove veniamo? Siamo soli nel cosmo? Tutte queste domande nascono grazie a Frank Drake, un uomo che ha cambiato il mondo". FONTE: Read the full article

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Não devemos temer a busca por vida alienígena

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