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Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Episode 107 – SETI’s new tool – Technosignatures

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Episode 107 – Dr Hector Socas-Navarro

The Great Wall of China can be seen from space. Actually, it can’t but the idea that a civilisation could build something large on a planetary scale that could be detected from interstellar distances was articulated first by author Olaf Stapledon in 1937 and popularised by Freeman Dyson in the 1960s. Known today as a Dyson Sphere, it is a megastructure built by an alien intelligence that captures almost all the energy emitted by its star. In this episode, Dr Hector Socas-Navarro explains we humans are not there yet but the increasing density of the Earth’s geosynchronous orbit will become detectable in a couple of centuries.

So not yet a Dyson sphere but a ring or a belt, he calls the Clarke-Exobelt may allow alien civilisations to detect humanity’s presence over interstellar distances. In this episode, we discuss the opportunities for SETI to detect artificial structures like this at interstellar distances using the JWST and very large Earth-based telescopes coming online soon.

Links to the resources we discuss are on the episode webpage

Podcast – Museum of Science and the Cosmos of Tenerife
NASA Technosignatures: “Moderately advanced” technologies in transit. Youtube video
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Museum of Tenerife

Scientific papers

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Episode 96 Seti – The search so far with Jill Tarter

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Allen Telescope Array. Source Seti.org

The Earth is one ordinary planet of many orbiting one typical sun of many in an unremarkable galaxy, the milky way one of the countless numbers in an ever-expanding universe.

Since the beginning of human civilisation, people have looked up at the night sky and wondered – are we alone? Science and technology of the 20th century has made it possible to try to address that question. So how is are we doing?

What have been the near-misses? How has the search evolved since then what are the current prospects of detecting a signal?

Jill Tarter from @SETIInstitute has worked on a number of major scientific projects, most relating to the search for extraterrestrial life and attempt to answer the question ”Are we alone in the universe.  The 1997 Hollywood film ‘Contact’ starring Jodi Foster was largely based on her work. 

As the former director of the Seti Institute, she explains when Seti research began, the technology used, how it is funded and the global collaborative international endeavour it has now become. 

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A video of the interview on which this episode is based is available on youtube.

Episode 94 Seti – Techniques and Technology with Jill Tarter

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The systematic search for extraterrestrial intelligence could only begin once the technology was sufficiently mature. That happened in early 1960s. Until then SETI was firmly in the realm of science fiction. 

How has the SETI evolved over the last six decades and especially what can modern technology allow today that was not possible then?

Jill Tarter from the @SETIInstitute has worked on a number of major scientific projects, most relating to the search for extraterrestrial life and attempt to answer the question ”Are we alone in the universe.  The 1997 Hollywood film ‘Contact’ starring Jodi Foster was largely based on her work. 

As the former director of the Seti institute, she explains when Seti research began, the technology used, how it is funded and the global collaborative international endeavour it has now become. 

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A video of the interview on which this episode is based is available on Youtube

Mars, Gagarin, SETI and British Space Programme

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As part of the WEA’s Festival of Ideas, I will be presenting a series of four two-hour online Zoom meetings (not webinars) with Q&A. The cost for each is £10.00 but depending on personal circumstances – free.

Exploring Mars: 09:45 – 11:45 22 Feb 2021
It’s getting busy on Mars. Currently, Mars has two spacecraft on the surface and another five in orbit from the USA, Europe and India. In February three more will arrive from the United Arab Emirates, USA and China. NASA will attempt to land its most advanced Martian rover called Perseverance on Thursday 18th February, and China will attempt to land its rover in May.

What have we learnt about the red planet’s surface, atmosphere and chemistry? Did Mars have life in the past? Is there life there now? What does the evidence show so far? The dream for humans going to Mars has been written about for centuries are we about to see it happening?

The Day the Cosmonaut came to Manchester 09:45 – 11:45 1 Mar 2021
Three months after the world’s first human in spaceflight, that human, USSR cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin, spent five days in Britain. Mostly in London but on 12 July 1961 he came to Manchester for the day. At the time, he was the only human to have orbited the Earth. Why did he come to London and Manchester? Where did he go and who did he meet and what was the impact of his visit between the East and West in the midst of the Cold War?

Based on my 2011 book – Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester

The search for life beyond the Earth 09:45 – 11:45 8 Mar 2021
The search for life beyond the Earth has been a constant quest in human history. Developments in the 20th century in radio astronomy and space technology have sped up the search for life in the solar system and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). How is that search going? What is the latest progress and current status?

The rise, fall and rise again of the British Space Programme 09:45-11:45 15 Mar 2021
Did you know that Britain is the only country to have developed rockets, launched a satellite and then … pulled the plug on its space programme? That was in 1971 but now the space industry in Britain is thriving once more. This presentation is a look back at early space developments in Britain and why it is thriving again today.