Description
Organisers: Louisa Mason, Kelvin Wandia, Michael Garrett, Andrew Siemion
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has profound implications in our understanding of the abundance of life and our place within the universe. An increasing number of telescopes – Green Bank, Parkes, Very Large Array, MeerKAT, e-MERLIN – are dedicating time and resources to the goal of finding evidence of intelligent civilisations, known as technosignatures. One of the key science goals of the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be SETI, under The Cradle of Life Working Group.
SETI has largely focused on radio and optical frequencies, with newer methods targeting infrared waste heat leakage. AI and machine learning are increasingly applied to detect anomalies in large astronomical data sets. With the Breakthrough Listen Initiative now based in Oxford and its collaborations with Manchester and other UK universities set to grow, this is the perfect moment for a SETI session at the NAM.
This session will aim to explore techniques in technosignature detection, surveys and telescopes employed to search for extraterrestrial life as well as current and future surveys in exoplanet & biosignature detection. Discussion on strategies to explore the ‘Cosmic Haystack’ across space, frequency and time will promote collaboration in our efforts to detect technosignatures. The overall goal will be to demonstrate UK contributions to the field and expand the national community.
Breakthrough Listen, the planet's most comprehensive search for technosignatures, was launched in 2015 at the Royal Society in London. In 2023 the project returned to the UK in earnest, with a move of its global headquarters to Oxford, as well as partnerships across the country. Listen engages with observing facilities and research groups around the world, gathering unprecedented volumes of...
The search for atmospheric technosignature gases using high-resolution spectroscopy in the near-infrared is a valuable extension of the search for general biosignatures and low-abundance gases in exoplanet atmospheres. High-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) is the best technique currently available for this, since it can disentangle faint potential technosignatures from...
SKA precursors and pathfinders are discovering novel transients across an immense range of astrophysical regimes - from flare stars to FRBs. I will discuss recent serendipitous and untargeted discoveries of a range of stellar transients made possible by repeat sampling of wide parts of the sky by both the MeerKAT and ASKAP telescopes, revealing a diversity in stellar radio astronomy and a...
We present new results from the JCMT-Venus programme and other observations looking at potential biosignatures in the clouds of Venus. JCMT-Venus is a JCMT long term programme to monitor the atmosphere of Venus at millimetre wavelengths to determine the presence and abundance variations of a variety of molecular species over day to year timescales. Three roughly month long observing campaigns...
We present comprehensive simulations of Earth's radar systems as potential technosignatures detectable by extraterrestrial observers. While SETI has traditionally focused on deliberate transmissions, we examine unintentional electromagnetic leakage from civilian airport radars and military radar systems. These technologies, essential to any advanced civilization's infrastructure, produce...
The plausibility of micron-scale transport from the Interstellar Medium through the heliosphere has been affirmed by discoveries of interstellar dust particles in the Solar System. Both the intentional and unintentional dispersion of micron-scale debris from anywhere outside the Solar System might also enter it, at hyperbolic velocities, and potentially offer evidence of other technological...
Radio SETI searches utilising the Green Bank Telescope over many years have produced a vast database of observations. With the large volume of this data, there still exists potential for the discovery of interesting SETI candidates—as well as non-SETI related anomalies—through re-analysis with newly developed detection methods. However, radio frequency interference is prevalent within this...
The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) is a 42-antenna array located in Hat Creek, California. Currently, observations at the ATA are being carried out with a 28-feed beamformer and correlator for projects in multiple branches of radio astronomy, including pulsar science, fast radio bursts (FRBs) and search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) surveys. Here,...
The search for waste heat technosignatures from Dyson Spheres/Swarms has been conducted intermittently over four decades. A recent breakthrough came from Project Hephaistos, which identified 7 candidate stars in 2024. Our follow-up investigation revealed that a fraction of candidates are associated with radio emissions, suggesting potential contamination by obscured Active Galactic Nuclei...
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has historically been restricted to the ‘water hole’ – 1.440 to 1.660 GHz – constricting the frequency parameter space searched. To our knowledge, SETI searches have yet to be conducted at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths (except briefly at 203GHz). At frequencies above 80GHz, there is little radio frequency interference (RFI) and...
We have re-processed ALMA observations of Venus from 2019, making a better line/continuum data-product for PH3 absorption. We test the outputs against hypotheses that (a) PH3 could be a by-product of active volcanism, or (b) phosphine production turns on within the high atmosphere in sun-light. The latter result might support the arguments for extant micro-organisms in the clouds of Venus.
Following the discovery of the first exoplanets around PSR B1257+12 in 1992 via the pulsar timing method (Wolszczan & Frail, 1992), the detection of 51 Pegasi b in 1995 (Mayor & Queloz, 1995) switched the search for exoplanets to those around sun-like stars in a concrete manner. Via the radial velocity method, astronomers had evidenced the existence of confirmed exoplanets around sun-like...
