Astrophysics (Index)About

search for extraterrestrial intelligence

(SETI)
(search for radio signals sent from extraterrestrial sources)

The acronym SETI (for search for extraterrestrial intelligence) is used for efforts, such as surveys, aimed at receiving radio (or any) signals from life on other planets that have developed the technology to send such things. Discovery of such a signal would clearly be interesting, but is considered by most astrophysicists to be a "long shot" (i.e., they judge probability of successful efforts within the foreseeable future to be very low). The SETI Institute is an organization to promote and sponsor such efforts. Sponsorship of such surveys has contributed to general radio astronomy, both by providing funded work that helps maintain radio telescopes that are also used for other astronomy, and by passing along observation-data that is useful in other areas of astronomy. SETI searches have produced signals that motivated further investigation, but have yet to produce a signal that clearly indicates an intelligent source.


(science)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_extraterrestrial_intelligence
http://www.seti.org/
https://www.planetary.org/sci-tech/seti
https://www.britannica.com/event/SETI
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l12_p6.html
https://www.astronomynotes.com/lifezone/s6.htm

Referenced by pages:
Allen Telescope Array (ATA)
Breakthrough Listen (BL)
commensal mode
Drake equation
Starshot
technosignature

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