|
SETI
Feb 7, 2011 1:31:02 GMT -6
Post by Steve on Feb 7, 2011 1:31:02 GMT -6
No date, time, or the direction this signal originated from was reported. Perhaps more will be shared, or is on the net. Steve apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110206.htmlAn Anomalous SETI Signal No one knows for sure what caused this signal. There is a slight possibility that it just might originate from an extraterrestrial intelligence. The bright colors on the blue background indicate that an anomalous signal was received here on Earth by a radio telescope involved in a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). A search for these signals is ongoing by several groups including volunteer members of the SETI League. Time labels the vertical axis of the above plot, and frequency marks the horizontal axis. Although this strong signal was never positively identified, astronomers have identified in it many attributes characteristic of a more mundane and ultimately terrestrial origin. In this case, a leading possibility is that the signal originates from an unusual modulation between a GPS satellite and an unidentified Earth-based source. Many unusual signals from space remain unidentified. No signal has yet been strong enough or run long enough to be unambiguously identified as originating from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Feb 7, 2011 2:56:48 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2011 2:56:48 GMT -6
Cool.
|
|
|
SETI
Feb 7, 2011 12:17:26 GMT -6
Post by paulette on Feb 7, 2011 12:17:26 GMT -6
I dated a guy for awhile who was one of thousands who were running SETI signals to monitor for anomolies on one of his 4 computers. (It turned out he liked being an avatar with silver hair who flew more than his human persona and we don't talk anymore.) Steve do you know if civilians are still doing this - monitoring on home computers? I knew him about 10 or 11 years ago.
|
|
|
SETI
Feb 7, 2011 16:18:41 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on Feb 7, 2011 16:18:41 GMT -6
Paulette, they are still running a SETI at home program. I had it on my computer for a couple of years. It can be found here: setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Feb 7, 2011 16:32:50 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2011 16:32:50 GMT -6
A friend of mine back in high school let them use his computer too. He's an air traffic controller now and the last time I saw him he said that they are still using his computer.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 17:42:27 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2011 17:42:27 GMT -6
The SETTI array has been shut down for lack of funding: Amazing to me..that UFO's seem to be all over the planet (according to reports) but SETI never connected. hmmms over that. news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20110426/tc_zd/263653
|
|
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 18:07:42 GMT -6
Post by auntym on Apr 26, 2011 18:07:42 GMT -6
www.ufo-blogger.com/2010/05/drcarl-sagan-co-founder-of-seti-knew.htmlDr.Carl Sagan Co-founder of SETI Knew That "UFOS were real"
Globally renowned astronomer, astrophysicist and designer of famous Pioneer 10 NASA Solar System Spacecraft Gold Plaque. He had also head the committee to select the contents for Voyager Golden Record. He is so well respected in scientific community till this date and Nasa even named their 2008 'Study of Extraterrestrial Worlds scholarship' after Mr Sagan. The pillar of modern space science Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real. Sagan said to Hynek, that he knew UFOs were real but could not talk publicly about the matter and possibly risk the loss of academic funding. Renowned astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real but avoided any public statements to prevent the loss of academic research funding. Dr. Allen J. Hynek confided his revelations about Dr Sagan to his former associate Paolo Harris who revealed this conversation recently In an interview with research journalist and author Paola Leopizzi-Harris she said : “My recollection is that Hynek said it was backstage of one of the many Johnny Carson Tonight shows Sagan did. He basically said (to Hynek) in 1984, ‘I know UFOs are real, but I would not risk my research (College) funding, as you do, to talk openly about them in public.’ ” This startling revelation about Carl Sagan, one of this century’s most esteemed scientists and writers, has now been made public by Paola Leopizzi-Harris, a former associate of Dr. Allen J. Hynek who worked with him from 1980 to 1985. TO CONTINUE READING CLICK ON ABOVE LINK
|
|
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 19:40:51 GMT -6
Post by skywalker on Apr 26, 2011 19:40:51 GMT -6
The SETI array has been shut down for lack of funding: Amazing to me..that UFO's seem to be all over the planet (according to reports) but SETI never connected. hmmms over that. Perhaps that's why it was shut down. I kept saying they needed to turn the thing around and point it at this planet.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 19:55:09 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2011 19:55:09 GMT -6
Sagan did believe in UFO's but not that they were visiting earth. In the interview he did with Nova..he makes it clear that we need to be very careful with evidence gathering. "Someone says something happened to them...And, people can say anything. The fact that someone says something doesn't mean it's true. Doesn't mean they're lying, but it doesn't mean it's true." www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc19.htm
|
|
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 21:05:35 GMT -6
Post by Steve on Apr 26, 2011 21:05:35 GMT -6
While Chief Investigator Northern California Mufon - I investigated several cases (some including missing time) near Redding/Mount Shasta. The one witness with several repeat sightings described the UFO - I remember clearly in amusement listening as he described this UFO heading out (one of two reports) in a low flat flight trajectory departing due east - ironically flying low over the Hat Creek Radio observatory! SETI! Obviously the object may have been too close - out of the focal plane of the SETI equipment!
Many things about SETI that troubles people - noble an effort that it is (was). Perhaps the scientist or technician monitoring the equipment that night had stepped away from their computers, and walked outside into the night air to gaze at the stars - they might have seen something. And assuming if they did see something, would they report it? SETI, like Mufon, has it's own dogmas.
In 1961, Jacques Vallée was working on the staff of the French Space Committee, Vallée witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of an unknown object orbiting the earth. The particular object was a retrograde satellite – orbiting the earth in the opposite direction. At the time no rockets powerful enough existed yet to launch such a satellite into a retrograde Earth orbit. The French team (quite excited) assumed that the Earth's gravity had captured a natural satellite (asteroid). A project superior came and erased the tape. These events contributed to Vallée's long-standing interest in the UFO phenomenon.
Did SETI find too little data? Or did SETI find too much broad data to support their own narrow theory?
So while the Hat Creek Radio Observatory was listening, just a few miles away, a couple were having missing time experiences and alleged encounters of the fourth kind. Incredible & ironic isn't it? Oh the stories I have!
Steve
|
|
|
SETI
Apr 26, 2011 22:40:27 GMT -6
Post by lois on Apr 26, 2011 22:40:27 GMT -6
scientist wants proof..
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 27, 2011 8:41:28 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2011 8:41:28 GMT -6
You're right there Lois..the nature of a scientist is to need proof. We come to forums like this one either because we've had experiences we can't explain or we're just plain curious. Who and what we allow ourselves to believe is up to the individual.
|
|
sansseed
Full Member
Failure is not an option
Posts: 417
|
SETI
Apr 27, 2011 12:09:21 GMT -6
Post by sansseed on Apr 27, 2011 12:09:21 GMT -6
While Chief Investigator Northern California Mufon - I investigated several cases (some including missing time) near Redding/Mount Shasta. The one witness with several repeat sightings described the UFO - I remember clearly in amusement listening as he described this UFO heading out (one of two reports) in a low flat flight trajectory departing due east - ironically flying low over the Hat Creek Radio observatory! SETI! Obviously the object may have been too close - out of the focal plane of the SETI equipment! Many things about SETI that troubles people - noble an effort that it is (was). Perhaps the scientist or technician monitoring the equipment that night had stepped away from their computers, and walked outside into the night air to gaze at the stars - they might have seen something. And assuming if they did see something, would they report it? SETI, like Mufon, has it's own dogmas. In 1961, Jacques Vallée was working on the staff of the French Space Committee, Vallée witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of an unknown object orbiting the earth. The particular object was a retrograde satellite – orbiting the earth in the opposite direction. At the time no rockets powerful enough existed yet to launch such a satellite into a retrograde Earth orbit. The French team (quite excited) assumed that the Earth's gravity had captured a natural satellite (asteroid). A project superior came and erased the tape. These events contributed to Vallée's long-standing interest in the UFO phenomenon. Did SETI find too little data? Or did SETI find too much broad data to support their own narrow theory? So while the Hat Creek Radio Observatory was listening, just a few miles away, a couple were having missing time experiences and alleged encounters of the fourth kind. Incredible & ironic isn't it? Oh the stories I have! Steve Very interesting, Steve! Yet, it kind of makes me want to bounce my head against a wall a few times. We can't see the forrest because of the trees, or would it be can't see the trees because of the forrest.
|
|
sansseed
Full Member
Failure is not an option
Posts: 417
|
SETI
Apr 27, 2011 12:21:31 GMT -6
Post by sansseed on Apr 27, 2011 12:21:31 GMT -6
As for Saga, I find him to be a pompus twit. I seriously loose respect when anyone makes a blanket statement about any group with no basis in fact, nor any desire to investigate the facts.
I honestly wonder if people like Sagan, or even Hawkings, think that if UFOs were coming to earth that the beings wouldn't seek out such peons in the general populations, but would be visiting physicists, or cosmologists, such as themselves. It would explain some of their dismissive nature towards those who believe in UFOs or abductees. In their case, if the entities didn't come to them first, then they don't exist.
|
|
|
SETI
Apr 27, 2011 19:38:09 GMT -6
Post by skywalker on Apr 27, 2011 19:38:09 GMT -6
I still think the idea of trying to detect an alien civilization via radio signals is kind of a waste of time. From the nearest star system it would take God knows how many tens of thousands of years for any message they send to even get to us...and tens of thousands of more years for us to respond to it. Scientists used to say the odds of there being another planet with life on it was a gazillion to one, so what are the odds that another planet would have intelligent life at the same level of technological development as us...minus the tens of thosands of years that it would take for their radio signals to get here? I think SETI was a good idea at the time but now we need to come up with some new ways of searching for extraterrestrial life...like turning the bleeping thing around and pointing it at the Earth! People aren't being abducted by Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 28, 2011 1:00:45 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2011 1:00:45 GMT -6
We all have to come to belief in our own time..our own way..even the scientists get to have an opinion, we just don't have to agree with it. There are not many scientists who are going to believe other races are visiting the earth without some kind of tangible proof..that is just the nature of the beast. Hawking is a mega genius..give him a nice meaty quantum physics challenge and he'll be right on his game..he still has the right to believe as he does with regard to alien life. We don't have to buy his theories. I don't believe as he does but if I had his health issues and limitations I'd probably be in a corner somewhere pitying myself instead of cracking the secrets of the universe in a wheelchair and using a computer generated voice to bring his science to others I don't agree with him but boy do I admire his conviction and his courage.. Carl Sagan is dead now so he doesn't get a vote and I'm envious because now..he knows the answers we don't LOL. Someday
|
|
sansseed
Full Member
Failure is not an option
Posts: 417
|
SETI
Apr 28, 2011 12:42:46 GMT -6
Post by sansseed on Apr 28, 2011 12:42:46 GMT -6
We all have to come to belief in our own time..our own way..even the scientists get to have an opinion, we just don't have to agree with it. There are not many scientists who are going to believe other races are visiting the earth without some kind of tangible proof..that is just the nature of the beast. Hawking is a mega genius..give him a nice meaty quantum physics challenge and he'll be right on his game..he still has the right to believe as he does with regard to alien life. We don't have to buy his theories. I don't believe as he does but if I had his health issues and limitations I'd probably be in a corner somewhere pitying myself instead of cracking the secrets of the universe in a wheelchair and using a computer generated voice to bring his science to others I don't agree with him but boy do I admire his conviction and his courage.. Carl Sagan is dead now so he doesn't get a vote and I'm envious because now..he knows the answers we don't LOL. Someday You're right. Everyone is allowed to their own opinion. Absolutely. I just draw the line when one describes others, who don't hold the same opinion, as delusional. For me, this holds true with regards to the belief in UFOs, ETs, religion, etc. If you want me to respect your opinion, then you must respect mine. I get what you say that scientist need proof. It's who they are. Yet, what I don't understand is the staunch opinion that UFOs cannot be possible or life on another planet. If there is one thing history should teach us, it's how very little we DO know. We cannot say anything definitively. To me, the quantity of our knowledge is equivalent to one grain of sand on a very large beach. We have a long way to go, so to say that something is not possible seems absurd. At this point, anything is possible. This is all my own thoughts, of course. I could be proven wrong tomorrow. With that said, you are right, Sagan and Hawkings have done a lot to move our knowledge forward, and that cannot be looked upon lightly, and they should be respected for their contributions.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 28, 2011 16:59:18 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2011 16:59:18 GMT -6
Sometimes it seems that the more adamantly we holler..there IS something to all of these sightings..that's when 'they' holler the loudest..there IS no proof of it. I agree..there are lots of hoaxes and trickster out there and it gives the entire subject a 'dodgey' atmosphere..but there are some very respectable people who have seen objects that defy definition. Those need to be elevated and aired. It's one thing to get the scientific community to agree that there is something to this..then along comes someone who tells everyone he's in contact with ninja turtles from Betelgeuse...and there goes the respect right out the window. We need to help police the hoaxes and the improbables and not perpetuate them..hunt the best..the most convincing..the ones that defy debunking. Then we may get somewhere. I do think that there are some very unusual cases and that however improbable the people are not lying. Manipulated most likely but those cases are part of the believability problem I think. IMO anyway
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 29, 2011 3:16:21 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2011 3:16:21 GMT -6
I say Carl Sagan was bribed by the government to say it wasn't possible.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
Apr 29, 2011 9:48:27 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2011 9:48:27 GMT -6
I don't think it matters a bit what anyone else thinks or believes. Our beliefs don't need to be based on what others think. We want important people to believe and even to admit that crafts from other worlds are visiting planet Earth, abducting it's citizens and making bologna out of the very worst parts of cows. We don't know where the heck they're from but we expect the government to know. I think the very reason they don't own up to anything is because they don't know where they're from either or who exactly they are or what exactly they want. I can tell one thing about them that maybe no one else has considered ;D They are NOT kosher or they wouldn't take those parts.
|
|
|
SETI
May 3, 2011 16:17:28 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on May 3, 2011 16:17:28 GMT -6
;D The Sarasota Herald Tribune
DevoidPainting the ceiling with coffee
by Billy Cox May 3rd, 2011 09:33am It really is a shame about SETI pulling the plug on its 42-dish Allen Telescope Array in Northern California on April 22. Even if you think it’s a waste of time and money, remember that the $1.5 million budget shortfall wouldn’t keep the Pentagon’s machinery running in Iraq for more than a few minutes. There is absolutely no proof to the rumor that the SETI Institute is retooling its image to attract younger, more desirable 'hep cat' donors/CREDIT: trueufo.com And as SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson pointed out in a letter to supporters, the facility is turning off the lights — for the time being, anyhow — just when NASA’s Kepler telescope is discovering hundreds of new exoplanets and candidates for targeting. “This fabulous opportunity represents a fundamental shift to be able to point our instruments at known planetary systems, rather than at stars that might or might not host planets,” Pierson wrote as he urged fans to kick in to a $5 million fundraiser to keep it going. But maybe the real kick in the pants was a wonderfully perverse bit of press coverage in an online publication produced by an outfit that bills itself as “The global leader in media and marketing solutions for the electronics industry. ”The headline for the EE Times read: “UFO Group Seeks Funding for Telescope.”“To find UFOs or signs of life in the universe,” the story went on, “SETI uses the so-called Allen Telescope Array (ATA). The ATA is an array of” blah-blah-blah etc. etc. Sweet bleedin’ cheeses, how De Void would loved to have been a fly on the wall at Hat Creek Radio Observatory, where the SETI crowd no doubt blew its coffee all over that one. This is like spraying water on cats. SETI, as we all know, has spent decades clawing and scratching and gnawing its way to membership in the mainstream club partially for its gritty efforts to trash The Great Taboo. As SETI point man Seth Shostak wrote in 2009, “SETI feels a need to distance themselves from UFOs, simply to forestall conflation of the two activities by potential SETI supporters. If you’re trying to raise research dollars from the government or serious donors, credibility counts.” Word. And with so much earnestness and conscientiousness at stake, De Void will do nothing to exploit this horrible and unnecessary faux pas. devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/11837/painting-the-ceiling-with-coffee/comment-page-1/ - comment-5311
|
|
|
SETI
May 3, 2011 17:27:16 GMT -6
Post by Steve on May 3, 2011 17:27:16 GMT -6
Who knows, if they associated themselves with that taboo word 'UFO', perhaps they would still be in business? Have always supported 'the scientific method'. But by it's nature and rationale, the scientific method is incapable of, and has never ever 'proven' anything.
In principle and method the 'scientific method' can only 'disprove'. There in lies the trap scientists unknowingly face in applying that method to UFO research. That approach to the UFO problem will be guarantied to fail every time, as SETI has failed.
"So while the Hat Creek Radio Observatory was listening, just a few miles away, a couple were having missing time experiences and alleged encounters of the fourth kind. Incredible & ironic isn't it?"
The problem with scientists, and we should thank them every day (like we do our men and women in the armed services) is that it seems black and white. If not the scientific method, then it must be then 'fringe' or 'pseudo science'.
A new variation of the scientific method' needs to be developed philosophically that still uses the same time honored principles, but has a broader outlook of the new possibilities we face exploring the unknown.
Steve
|
|
|
SETI
May 5, 2011 19:02:02 GMT -6
Post by casper on May 5, 2011 19:02:02 GMT -6
Why would aliens try to communicate with us using radio waves when they could just fly here and talk to us in person?
|
|
|
SETI
May 14, 2011 10:16:53 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on May 14, 2011 10:16:53 GMT -6
SETI has not completely shut down: PressTV
US starts project to find alien lifeSat May 14, 2011 2:41AM The United States has inaugurated a massive radio telescope in rural West Virginia to listen for signs of extraterrestrial life on 86 Earth-like planets. US astronomers said on Friday that the colossal dish will gather 24 hours of data on each of the planets, which have been selected from a list of 1,235 planets identified by NASA's Kepler space telescope, AFP reported. "It's not absolutely certain that all of these stars have habitable planetary systems, but they're very good places to look for ET," said Andrew Siemion, one of the scientists working on the project. The mission is part of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project, which was launched in 1984 to search for electromagnetic transmissions from intelligent extraterrestrial creatures. Siemion said that they are utilizing cutting edge equipment in radio astronomy technology, noting, “Our search employs the largest fully steerable radio telescope on the planet, and the most sensitive radio telescope in the world capable of undertaking a SETI search of this kind.” He stated, "We will be looking at a much wider range of frequencies and signal types than has ever been possible before,” adding that the surface of the telescope is 100 by 110 meters and it can record nearly one gigabyte of data per second. Earlier last month, the SETI institute announced that it had called off a major part of its efforts to discover extra-terrestrial communication due to budget cuts.www.presstv.ir/detail/179781.html
|
|
|
SETI
May 14, 2011 12:05:36 GMT -6
Post by skywalker on May 14, 2011 12:05:36 GMT -6
Somebody must have stepped up with some funding. I wonder who it could be?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
SETI
May 14, 2011 14:01:27 GMT -6
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2011 14:01:27 GMT -6
does anybody remember the wow! signal there was another mentioned on apod recently as well,,,,,,,,but that one might have been a satellite
|
|
|
SETI
May 22, 2011 9:09:46 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on May 22, 2011 9:09:46 GMT -6
SpaceRef
SETI Institute Workshop on Enceladus
Category: Astrobiology and Life Sciences
Event Format: ConferenceDate: 23-24 May 2011 Location: SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA US At the moment, the bulk of the evidence collected by various instruments on Cassini points with high probability to salty liquid water as the source of the moon's towering south polar jets, making this subterranean extraterrestrial habitable zone the most accessible in our solar system. Because of the significance and implications of these findings, we deem the examination and promotion of Enceladus urgent. However, because it has been a late-comer to the astrobiology scene, what Enceladus offers as the most promising place in our solar system to search for signs of life, or even pre-biotic chemistry, based on liquid water is often overlooked. We are trying to rectify this situation by bringing together astrobiologists, planetary scientists actively studying Enceladus, mission designers, and members of the press for a two-day conversation focused on this moon. And we'd like you to join us. Web Site Address: encfg.ciclops.org/meeting_registration.phpwww.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=6578
|
|
|
SETI
May 22, 2011 12:26:25 GMT -6
Post by skywalker on May 22, 2011 12:26:25 GMT -6
Does anybody know how to sign up for this because I can't get it to work?
|
|
|
SETI
Jun 29, 2011 9:09:28 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on Jun 29, 2011 9:09:28 GMT -6
Wired Science
Lady of the Rings: Chat With Saturn Surveyor Carolyn Porco
By Lisa Grossman June 28, 2011 NASA/JPL/CICLOPS Enceladus and its famous jets, backlit by the sun.When Carolyn Porco started exploring the outer solar system, it was all about the rings. Her 1983 doctoral thesis at Caltech focused on shifting spokes in Saturn’s rings discovered by the Voyager spacecraft. As Voyager sailed past Uranus and Neptune, Porco led a group dedicated to their rings, too. So when she became the head of the imaging team for the Cassini satellite mission to Saturn, the gas giant’s majestic rings were expected to be the highlight. But in Cassini’s seven years orbiting the great ringed planet, a new part of the system turned Porco’s head. One of Saturn’s icy moons, Enceladus, is spurting salty water full of compounds like propane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde. The discovery vaulted Enceladus to the top of many astrobiologists’ wish lists for the next place to look for life in the solar system. Wired.com caught up with Porco to talk about microbe-filled snow and bringing pictures to the public. Wired.com: What’s coming up next for Cassini? Carolyn Porco: We have lots of plans to monitor all the exciting things we’ve found so far: hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, activity that we’ve discovered at the south pole of Enceladus, looking for changes in the rings, storm activity. We’ll be going out to 2017, if we’re lucky. That will be the height of northern summer. We arrived at the height of southern summer, so between the two hemispheres we’ll be able to see the effects of a full seasonal cycle at Saturn. That’s just so scientifically fruitful. It will show us how this alien planetary system, very far from the sun, responds to seasonal forcing. Wired.com: What’s been the highlight so far? Porco: Our most significant discovery is the activity at south pole of Enceladus, which points to a subsurface regional salty sea, laced with organic matter and emitting excess heat. It is the best, most accessible habitable zone we have in our solar system. As far as I’m concerned, Enceladus has become the go-to place in our solar system for issues bearing on extraterrestrial life. It’s a great place to examine extraterrestrial organic chemistry that is water-based, and therefore like biotic chemistry on Earth. Wired.com: So if you had a lineup of Enceladus, Titan and Europa, which are always brought up as good targets for astrobiology, which would you choose? Porco: Oh, Enceladus wins hands down. Titan has no liquid water on its surface and any liquid water beneath its surface is inaccessible to us, as far as we know. It has hydrocarbon lakes, but we don’t know of any organisms that could live in those, not at the temperatures that we find on Titan. Any reference to possible life in lakes on the surface of Titan is pure speculation. We do know of subsurface Earth ecologies that could thrive in the subsurface environment on Enceladus. Now that we know there’s salty water there, that shows there’s liquid water in contact with rock. Biotic chemistry could occur that we know exists in volcanic environments miles underneath Earth’s surface, where liquid water percolates through hot rocks. As far as Europa goes, Europa very likely has an ocean under its surface. In that regard, Europa and Enceladus are on equal par. But on Europa, the ocean is at least several kilometers under the surface and the moon is bathed in an intense radiation field. We can’t go there and just drill several kilometers down because the intense radiation field would fry a properly equipped spacecraft in several months. So while there could indeed be life within the ocean of Europa, it is presently inaccessible. The beauty of Enceladus is all you have to do is land on the surface, look up and stick your tongue out. It could be snowing microbes at the south pole. We would be foolish not to head back there immediately. Wired.com: What are the actual plans for going back? Porco: This issue was examined recently, and NASA chose Europa. There’s a lot of political momentum behind a Europa mission. But, because of budgeting restrictions, it’s not clear we’ll be going there any time soon. I think Enceladus could be done for less expense, and is more promising. It’s very possible to go back to Enceladus. I just hope we do it soon. Wired.com: Aside from Enceladus, what are the big questions left for Cassini? Porco: How does the surface environment on Titan change with the seasons? Titan is the one place in our solar system whose geographical and atmospheric diversity and complexity are rivaled only by the Earth’s. It’s very Earth-like, but it’s also very different, which means we have a lot to learn as well as a prayer of understanding what we find. Until Cassini got there, Titan was the largest single expanse of unexplored terrain that we had remaining in our solar system. Now we’ve basically seen all of it. I can’t help but think of Cassini in its historical context. It was the first orbiter we put around Saturn, the first time humans have touched something in the outer solar system with something of our own making. I think it’s an opportunity for people all over the world to be high-fiving each other, saying “Yay for the humans!” www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/carolyn-porco-qa/
|
|
|
SETI
Aug 8, 2011 14:23:43 GMT -6
Post by swamprat on Aug 8, 2011 14:23:43 GMT -6
With New Funding, Quest for Alien Life Is Back OnPublished August 08, 2011 FoxNews.comIf ET phones, we're listening again -- thanks to you. Astronomers at the cash-strapped SETI Institute are poised to resume the quest for extraterrestrial life, after raising more than $200,000 to restart a key array of telescopes. The institute was forced to put the hunt on hold in April, after cash-strapped governments decided they could no longer afford to pay the interstellar phone bill. To raise the required money, SETI turned to crowd sourcing: It unveiled the SETIStars.org website in June and independently raised the $204,129 needed to restart the Allen Telescope Array. "Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goal of getting the ATA back online!" reads a note posted to the SETI website. "Stay tuned for updates. We are discovering more Earth-like planets every day, so now is more critical than ever to look for extraterrestrial life." The quest for funding isn't over yet, however. Operating the dishes cost about $1.5 million a year, mostly to pay for the staff of eight to 10 researchers and technicians to operate the facility. An additional $1 million a year was needed to collect and sift the data from the dishes. The Institute is looking for other source of money for the $2.5 million it requires annually to operate. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Read more: www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/08/08/with-new-funding-quest-for-alien-life-is-back-on/#ixzz1UTBb4daQ
|
|