archive-1: Optical SETI article in NYT

Optical SETI article in NYT

Larry Klaes ( lklaes@bbn.com )
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 10:54:32 -0500

>>Here is the text of THE NEW YORK TIMES piece (in the quickest way I
>>can send it) from the SCIENCE section of 26 January 1999:
>>
>>The Search for E.T.
>>
>>he search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, has usually
>>involved the ears, not the eyes. Most such projects collect and
>>analyze radio emissions from the heavens for patterns or other signs
>>that may indicate an alien origin.
>>
>>There have always been a few diehards, however, who have argued that
>>an otherworldly civilization may be just as likely to use light waves
>>as a means of signaling their existence to the rest of the universe.

http://www.coseti.org

>>In fact, some of these proponents argue, given Earth's technological
>>history, an advanced civilization may be more likely to use a laser,
>>say, than a more-primitive radio transmitter.
>>
>>Now, the Planetary Society, a nonprofit group that has long backed the
>>hunt for alien life, is sponsoring three new optical SETI programs.
>>Two projects -- one at the University of California at Berkeley, the
>>other at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics -- are
>>looking for very brief light pulses from nearby Sun-like stars.
>>
>>The third project, also at Berkeley, is examining data from several
>>observatories' searches for planets outside the solar system in the
>>hope of finding a steady, extremely narrow-frequency beam of light.
>>
>>
>>_________________________________________________________
>>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>>
>Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, SMIEEE, MIEE, CEng.,
>Director, The Columbus Optical SETI Observatory - http://www.coseti.org &
>http://store.yahoo.com/coseti
>SPIE's OSETI III Conference, Photonics West, February 19-21, 2001, San Jose
>Convention Center - www.coseti.org/spiepro3.htm
>See the December 1998 issue of Sky & Telescope, page 48, for an article
>about the COSETI Observatory
>
>
>