SETI Cam Page
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Current Target
Name/ID # : No Target
RA (Hours) : 00 00 00
Dec (Degrees): 00 00 00
Distance (LY): 0.00
Apparent Mag :
Spectral Type:
Start Date : Sat Dec 13 2003
Start Time : 08:20:01 PST
Starmaps created using Distant Suns.
Recently Observed Targets
Dec 12 2003 19:59:22 PST HD 029150
Dec 12 2003 20:03:27 PST HD 029150
Dec 12 2003 20:08:28 PST HD 029150
Dec 12 2003 20:14:36 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:22:59 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:27:06 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:31:13 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:35:28 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:39:29 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:43:42 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:47:56 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:53:06 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 20:58:14 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 21:03:46 PST HD 033021A
Dec 12 2003 21:09:33 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:22:19 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:26:33 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:30:26 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:34:33 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:38:33 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:42:46 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:47:01 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:51:16 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:55:30 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 21:59:30 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 22:05:20 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 22:11:35 PST HD 058781
Dec 12 2003 22:17:48 PST HD 068256
Dec 12 2003 22:26:08 PST HD 068256
Dec 12 2003 22:31:27 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:37:49 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:41:56 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:46:04 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:50:13 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:55:01 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 22:59:17 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:04:11 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:08:23 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:12:38 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:16:52 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:20:58 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:25:13 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:29:27 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:33:33 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:37:47 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:42:01 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:47:08 PST HD 066573
Dec 12 2003 23:52:15 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:02:38 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:06:44 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:10:59 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:15:13 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:19:19 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:23:26 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:27:40 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:32:53 PST HD 078418A
Dec 13 2003 00:38:01 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 00:46:00 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 00:50:14 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 00:54:13 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 00:58:26 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:02:34 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:06:48 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:11:03 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:15:11 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:19:19 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:23:28 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:28:22 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:32:39 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:37:41 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:41:55 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:46:01 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:50:15 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:54:29 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 01:58:42 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 02:02:57 PST HD 089055
Dec 13 2003 02:08:19 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:20:29 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:24:43 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:28:43 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:32:49 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:36:42 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:40:55 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:45:10 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:49:25 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:53:41 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 02:57:41 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:01:50 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:05:51 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:10:50 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:15:57 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:20:04 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:24:18 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:28:32 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:32:39 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:36:53 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:41:07 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:45:20 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:49:33 PST HD 106210
Dec 13 2003 03:53:38 PST HD 106210
Observing Schedule:
(times in AST, which is 1 hour ahead of EST)
Nov 17: 1830 - 0800
Nov 18: 1815 - 0800
Nov 19: 1800 - 0800
Nov 20: 1745 - 0800
Nov 21: 1730 - 0800
Nov 24: 1700 - 2200
Nov 25: 1715 - 2200
Nov 26: 1700 - 0800
Nov 27: 1715 - 0800
Nov 28: 1700 - 0800
Dec 1: 1700 - 0800
Dec 2: 1700 - 0800
Dec 3: 1700 - 0800
Dec 4: 1700 - 0800
Dec 5: 1700 - 0800
Dec 8: 1700 - 2330, 0330 - 0800
Dec 9: 1700 - 2330, 0330 - 0800
Dec 10: 1700 - 2330, 0330 - 0800
Dec 11: 1700 - 0800
Dec 12: 1700 - 0800
SETI Institute staff in Arecibo
Peter Backus
Mike Davis
John Dreher
Seth Shostak
Jill Tarter
Jane Jordan
Tom Kilsdonk
Ben Sanchez
Alan Patrick
Glossary
Name/ID Number:
Very few stars have classy Arabic names such as "Betelgeuse." Most
have only an ID number. A majority of the ID numbers listed here come from
the Henry Draper (HD) star catalog, though numbers from other catalogs may
also appear.
RA:
This is one of the two coordinates that locates a star on the sky. The right
ascension (RA) is analogous to longitude on Earth's surface, and runs from
0 to 24 hours.
Dec:
This is the other position coordinate, and is analogous to latitude. Declinations
run from 0 to 90 degrees (the pole), both positive and negative (stars with
declinations lower than about -30 degrees can't be seen from the continental
U.S.)
Distance:
This is, obviously enough, the distance to the star, in light-years. If you
prefer to impress friends by using parsecs, divide this number by 3.26.
Spectral Type:
A star's spectral type refers to characteristics of its light distribution,
and these are determined by its surface temperature and mass. Most stars fall
on the sequence (in order of decreasing temperature) O-B-A-F-G-K-M. M stars
are the dimmest and coolest of these stars. The Sun is of type G. Most Phoenix
targets are of types F through M.
Apparent Magnitude:
This is a measure of the star's apparent brightness on the sky, measured in
those archaic (but firmly entrenched) astronomical units known as magnitudes.
One magnitude is a factor of 2.5x in brightness, and the larger the number,
the dimmer the star. The dimmest stars you can see with your naked eye have
magnitudes of 5 or 6.
Background/History
Overview
Project Phoenix is the world's most sensitive and comprehensive search for
extraterrestrial intelligence. It is an effort to detect extraterrestrial
civilizations by listening for radio signals that are either being deliberately
beamed our way, or are inadvertently transmitted from another planet. Phoenix
is the successor to the ambitious NASA SETI program that was cancelled by
a budget-conscious Congress in 1993. Phoenix began observations in February,
1995 using the Parkes 210 foot radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia.
This is the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.
Following the southern observing campaign, the project turned its attention to northern stars. Appropriately, this phase brought the search back to its roots at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. The 140 Foot Telescope is only a short distance from the antenna used by Frank Drake in Project Ozma. Project Phoenix operated in Green Bank from September 1996 through April 1998, using the telescope about 50% of the time. As the primary instrument in Green Bank, the antenna was shared with other astronomers.
Phoenix doesn't scan the whole sky. Rather, it scrutinizes the vicinities of nearby, sun-like stars. Such stars are most likely to host long-lived planets capable of supporting life. We naturally include stars that are known to have planets. There are about one thousand stars targeted for observation by Project Phoenix. All are within 200 light-years distance.
Because millions of radio channels are simultaneously monitored by Phoenix, most of the "listening" is done by computers. Nonetheless, astronomers are required to make critical decisions about signals that look intriguing.
Phoenix looks for signals between 1,000 and 3,000 MHz. Signals that are at only one spot on the radio dial (narrow-band signals) are the "signature" of an intelligent transmission. The spectrum searched by Phoenix is broken into very narrow 1 Hz-wide channels, so two billion channels are examined for each target star.
Observations are currently being made during two three-week sessions each year using the 1,000 foot radio telescope at Arecibo, in Puerto Rico. During the observing sessions, the astronomer on duty post reports.
By mid-1999, Phoenix had examined about half of the stars on its "hit list." So far, no clearly extraterrestrial transmissions have been found. But the faint whine that would betray an alien civilization might be heard tomorrow.
Project Phoenix is sustained entirely through private funding.
Detection of Terrestrial Intelligence
A system designed to detect interstellar communications will easily detect
terrestrial communications signals. These terrestrial signals, termed Radio
Frequency Interference (RFI), plague radio astronomy in general but are especially
annoying for SETI.
The images below illustrate some of the strong signals encountered by Project Phoenix at various frequencies. Each plot shows 10 MHz of the spectrum (half an FM radio dial) broken into 16 segments. The data used in these plots has a resolution of 643 Hz per channel. There are 15,552 of these channels across the 10 MHz. This is the "coarse" resolution used to calibrate the fine resolution (1 Hz) used for the search.
Strong Signal at 1440 MHz
Click Image To Enlarge Graph
Strong Signal at 1700 MHz
Click Image To Enlarge Graph
In the "Protected Band" at 1420 MHz
Through international agreements, several special frequency bands have been
reserved for radio astronomy. Perhaps the most important of these bands includes
the emission from hydrogen atoms at 1420 MHz. The "protected" band
extends from 1400 MHz to 1427 MHz in order to allow observations of hydrogen
gas moving at a range of velocities.
During the observations at Parkes, we detected occassional
strong RFI within the protected band. The plot below is a "peak-hold"
representation of the spectrum from 1415 to 1425 MHz. The 10 MHz spectrum
is broken into 16 segments. (There are 15,552 channels, each with a resolution
of 643 Hz.) The plot shows the maximum power received in each of the 15,552
channels during all observations in this band. The smooth broad feature is
due to the emission from clouds of hydrogen in our galaxy. The narrow spikes
are due to terrestrial signals.
Strong Narrow Signals at 1420 MHz
Click Image to Enlarge Graph
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