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SETI
- Allen Telescope Array
- Optical SETI
- Interstellar Message Construction
- Project Phoenix 1995-2004
- Background Science
- History of SETI
- Center for SETI Research Team
- Other people doing SETI
- Hollywood's View of SETI
So Many Stars
by Peter Backus, Observing Programs Manager
Project Phoenix came on line in early February 1995, when the 64-meter Parkes radio telescope pointed at the star nu Phoenicis. Today, a little more than nine years later, I consider the history of Phoenix as I enjoy breakfast on a cool morning in the tropics. It has been five and a half years since we first arrived at Arecibo, and we have now used up our allotted time on the worlds largest antenna. Ive traveled here roughly every six months, staying for a month to six weeks each time -- it has almost become routine, and hard to believe that observations are over. I probably wont notice the change until next autumn when I have an urge to pack my luggage and have caf con leche.
Just over and hour ago, we completed the last Project Phoenix observation, concluding with star HD169882, a G7V type star (a little cooler than the Sun) about 88 light years away. Once again, we only detected evidence of our own technology. Since 1995, weve searched for signals from more than 700 of our neighbors over the available frequency bands. We have searched many other stars over portions of the frequency bands. When those are added in, weve searched the equivalent of about 800 stars over all available frequencies between 1200 and 3000 MHz. Thats close to the goal that we established for the NASA SETI Targeted Search.
As I sip my second cup of coffee, I feel a certain satisfaction. I was part of a team of individuals who accomplished an extraordinarily ambitious undertaking despite all odds. Congress deleted funding for the NASA program on a Friday in 1993. We all had a pretty depressing weekend, but on Monday morning, John Dreher said this project was a good idea on Friday and its still a good idea today, we should find a way. And so Project Phoenix began. We arranged to get the equipment that we developed for NASA on a long term loan. With large contributions from wealthy technologists and the combined support of many individual members of TeamSETI, we doubled the size of the search system and started observing at Australias Parkes radio telescope within a month of the NASA schedule.
We spent nearly six months in Australia, using the telescope for 16 weeks. We went on to observe at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia, using the 140-foot telescope about half the time for a year and a half. Then it was on to Arecibo, the worlds biggest dish. The 305-meter diameter antenna gave us the greatest possible sensitivity. But after all those observations, we did not find The Signal.
Some people would be disappointed. Im not. While we didnt make the big discovery, we nonetheless learned something about our galactic neighborhood. Its quiet. None of those 800 stars has strong transmitters with power equivalent to our military radars.
I also remain engaged and encouraged because I know that we have searched such a small portion of our galaxy, 800 stars within about 200 lightyears. Our galaxy contains more than a hundred billion stars. Project Phoenix was the most sensitive and comprehensive search to date. We have plans for searches on the Allen Telescope Array and perhaps even here at Arecibo. We will look at more stars, more frequencies and for more types of signals. Weve only just explored our neighborhood. Theres a whole galaxy waiting. So many stars