The SETI Society

"...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 featured in an episode of PBS NOVA SCIENCE NOW - THE SEARCH FOR ET , at the above link you can also watch it in other media players/resolutions.  Also see there the 44 second long  '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 December 17, 2009) that 82% of respondents to their online poll said "Yes" to the question "Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way?"  11% said "No" and only 7% are "Undecided.

________________________________ setisociety.org is dedicated to the promotion of SETI news, science, and philosophy.  Join the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, 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!

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 See the new

SETI Video Page

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The next SETI Society meeting/cafe chat will be February 10, 2010