Cidersomerset
6th July 2013, 16:16
I thought this an interesting article, not how they propose to do it, but the fact
they are doing it at all and making it public at this time, maybe to tie in with
all the planets being found around the universe by NASA with the Kepler
telescope.....
short vid on link below briefly explaining the search for ET's....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23202054
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68577000/jpg/_68577928_68577927.jpg
Tim O'Brien gives a tour of the 'alien signal' control centre
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.48.3/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
UK astronomers to co-ordinate their search for alien signals
5 July 2013 Last updated at 17:01
British scientists are to make a concerted effort to look for alien life among the stars.
Academics from 11 institutions have set up a network to co-ordinate their Search
forExtra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti).
The English Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, will act as patron.
The group is asking funding agencies for a small - about £1m a year - sum of
money to support listening time on radio telescopes and for data analysis.It would
also help pay for research that considered new ways to try to find aliens. Currently,
most Seti work is done in the US and is funded largely through private donation.
UK Seti Research Network (UKSRN) co-ordinator Alan Penny said there was
important expertise in Britain keen to play its part.
"If we had one part in 200 - half a percent of the money that goes into astronomy
at the moment - we could make an amazing difference. We would become
comparable with the American effort," the University of St Andrews researcher told
BBC News.
"I don't know whether [aliens] are out there, but I'm desperate to find out. It's
quite possible that we're alone in the Universe. And think about the implications of
that: if we're alone in the Universe then the whole purpose in the Universe is in us.
If we're not alone, that's interesting in a very different way."
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68571000/jpg/_68571668_r1610143-lovell_radio_telescope_dish_at_sunset-spl.jpg
The scientists believe it is time UK effort was properly co-ordinated
The UKSRN held its first get-together at this week's National Astronomy Meeting.
British researchers and facilities have had occasional involvement in Seti projects
down the years. The most significant was the use in 1998-2003 of Jodrell bank, and
its 76m Lovell radio telescope, in Project Phoenix. This was a search for signals
from about 1,000 nearby stars. Organised - and paid for - by the Seti Institute in
California, it ultimately found nothing.
Jodrell has since been updated, linking it via fibre optics into a 217km-long array
with six other telescopes across England. Known as eMerlin, this system would be a
far more powerful tool to scan the skies for alien transmissions.And Jodrell's Tim
O'Brien said Seti work could be done quite easily without disturbin mainstream
science on the array.
"You could do serendipitous searches. So if the telescopes were studying quasars,
for example, we could piggy-back off that and analyse the data to look for a
different type of signal - not the natural astrophysical signal that the quasar
astronomer was interested in, but something in the noise that one might imagine
could be associated with aliens. This approach would get you Seti research almost
for free," the Jodrell associate director explained.
"There are billions of planets out there. It would be remiss of us not to at least have
half an ear open to any signals that might be being sent to us."
Read more..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23202054
they are doing it at all and making it public at this time, maybe to tie in with
all the planets being found around the universe by NASA with the Kepler
telescope.....
short vid on link below briefly explaining the search for ET's....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23202054
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68577000/jpg/_68577928_68577927.jpg
Tim O'Brien gives a tour of the 'alien signal' control centre
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.48.3/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
UK astronomers to co-ordinate their search for alien signals
5 July 2013 Last updated at 17:01
British scientists are to make a concerted effort to look for alien life among the stars.
Academics from 11 institutions have set up a network to co-ordinate their Search
forExtra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti).
The English Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, will act as patron.
The group is asking funding agencies for a small - about £1m a year - sum of
money to support listening time on radio telescopes and for data analysis.It would
also help pay for research that considered new ways to try to find aliens. Currently,
most Seti work is done in the US and is funded largely through private donation.
UK Seti Research Network (UKSRN) co-ordinator Alan Penny said there was
important expertise in Britain keen to play its part.
"If we had one part in 200 - half a percent of the money that goes into astronomy
at the moment - we could make an amazing difference. We would become
comparable with the American effort," the University of St Andrews researcher told
BBC News.
"I don't know whether [aliens] are out there, but I'm desperate to find out. It's
quite possible that we're alone in the Universe. And think about the implications of
that: if we're alone in the Universe then the whole purpose in the Universe is in us.
If we're not alone, that's interesting in a very different way."
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68571000/jpg/_68571668_r1610143-lovell_radio_telescope_dish_at_sunset-spl.jpg
The scientists believe it is time UK effort was properly co-ordinated
The UKSRN held its first get-together at this week's National Astronomy Meeting.
British researchers and facilities have had occasional involvement in Seti projects
down the years. The most significant was the use in 1998-2003 of Jodrell bank, and
its 76m Lovell radio telescope, in Project Phoenix. This was a search for signals
from about 1,000 nearby stars. Organised - and paid for - by the Seti Institute in
California, it ultimately found nothing.
Jodrell has since been updated, linking it via fibre optics into a 217km-long array
with six other telescopes across England. Known as eMerlin, this system would be a
far more powerful tool to scan the skies for alien transmissions.And Jodrell's Tim
O'Brien said Seti work could be done quite easily without disturbin mainstream
science on the array.
"You could do serendipitous searches. So if the telescopes were studying quasars,
for example, we could piggy-back off that and analyse the data to look for a
different type of signal - not the natural astrophysical signal that the quasar
astronomer was interested in, but something in the noise that one might imagine
could be associated with aliens. This approach would get you Seti research almost
for free," the Jodrell associate director explained.
"There are billions of planets out there. It would be remiss of us not to at least have
half an ear open to any signals that might be being sent to us."
Read more..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23202054