
"...one raindrop isn't the only rain that falls..."
Isaac Asimov
Saggitarius Jewel Box-Hubble image credit-NASA/STSCI/AURA
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Frank Drake's 'Drake Equation' estimates (July 2008) as indicated on the PBS NOVA Science Now website:
n = 10,000, Number of communicating civilizations
R = 5, Rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = 50%, Percentage of stars that form planets
ne = 2, Average # of planets that could support life per star
fl = 100%, Percentage of those planets where life occurs
fi = 20%, Percentage of those planets where intelligence develops
fc = 100% Percentage of those civilizations that produce interstellar communications
l = 10,000 yrs, Average lifetime of a communicating civilization
Click here to make your own estimates.
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Aside from the subjects covered by the links on the top left hand side of this page, some upcoming explorations on this website and the Monthly Meeting will include:
ASTRONOMY INCLUDING ASTROGEOLOGY and ASTROMETEOROLOGY - speculations on possible environments of E.T. life.
SOCIAL IMPACT - predicting possible social impacts from 'not much' to 'overwhelming'.
EARTH-SENT-PROBES, TELESCOPES AND COLONIZATION - what will be the effects on E.T. and ourselves of our reconnaisance and expansion into the universe?
MONOLITHS, RELICS AND REMNANTS OF E.T. CIVILIZATIONS - on the detectibility of E. T. civilizations and their longevity.
MACHINE LIFE AND ITS IMPACTS ON BIOLOGY
PARTICIPATORY SETI - How the public gets involved.
SETI PHILOSOPHY - How the great minds of history and the present approach the search.
WHY "HABITABLE ZONES" ONLY APPLY TO SOME FORMS OF EARTH LIFE
DOES DARWINIAN EVOLUTION OCCUR ON A GALACTIC SCALE?
THE EXTRASOLAR PLANET REVOLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON SETI
FUTURE SETI PROJECTS - Lunar far side radio telescope, Space based SETI, infra-red SETI and innovations that could revolutionize SETI.
WHAT HAS BEEN CHECKED ALREADY? - Looking into what search spaces have been investigated to date.
The New Search for ET video appearing on the adjacent youtube link was also featured on an episode of Nova Science Now that aired in July 2008. here's the link to the NOVA SCIENCE NOW - THE SEARCH FOR ET website where you can also watch online in Windows Media player or Quicktime. They have other interesting things on that website like a short (44 second) plug 'video extra' for SETI@home which ran at the end of the PBS NOVA Science Now SETI episode. Also on their website it says (as of April 20, 2009) that 81% of respondents to their online poll said "Yes" to the question "Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way?" 12% said "No" and only 7% are "Undecided.
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This website is dedicated to the promotion of SETI News, SETI science (which is dependent on all other scientific exploration), and SETI philosophy. Join the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence here, and for the latest SETI news go to our forum at The SETI Society Google Group; you can read it without joining, but feel free to sign up and participate!
A SAMPLE OF POSTS AT THE SETI SOCIETY GOOGLE GROUP:
Optical SETI observations with the NAYUTA telescope (Japanese OSETI)
Article - Listening for E.T.: 42 of 350 dishes installed; $40M needed for restArticle - Tiniest extrasolar planet found
SETI@home certificate of computation for team
Article - Vatican says aliens could exist
Article - Looking for ET's neutrino beamAP - Hawking: Unintelligent life is likely on other planets
Instant/faster-than-light communications and SETI
AbSciCon '08 concludes with very interesting results.
Article - New Rocky Planet Found In Constellation LeoArticle - Robot aliens? Space opera gets it right
Article - A Shadow of Ourselves (on communicating the darker aspects of ourselves to E.T.)
Paper on identifying rotation rate and weather of extra-solar Earth-like planets.
Scientific American Mag Cover - The Shocking Colors of Alien Plants
Astronomy Mag.- Could Changing Channels Tune Into Alien Civilizations?
Organic molecules and warm spots mapped on Enceladus
Article - Methane and water vapor found on distant world
Article - Writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90
Article - How We Present Ourselves to Aliens
Article - Alpha Centauri May Have Earth-like, Habitable Planets
Space.com's SETI Thursday "The Big Picture: Astrobiology"
New York Times Article - Please Call Earth. We Still Haven't Found You.
Article - Creating a "phone-book for ET"
Article "Strikingly similar" planetary system discovered
Article - Earth-like planets raise prospects of extra-terrestrial life: study
Astrobiology Magazine - "Life on Frosted Earths"
Article and release "NASA's Deep Impact Begins Hunt for Alien Worlds"