SETI@home Project: 21 Years of Crowd-Sourced Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Yields 100 Promising Signals
By
TMEHpodcast
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
The article covers the 21-year SETI@home project (1999-2020) where millions of volunteers worldwide loaned their home computers to UC Berkeley scientists to analyze radio telescope data from the Arecibo Observatory in search of extraterrestrial intelligence signals. The crowd-sourced project generated 12 billion signals of interest, with scientists now focusing on 100 promising signals for further investigation as potential evidence of advanced civilizations.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledFor 21 years, between 1999 and 2020, millions of people worldwide loaned UC Berkeley scientists their computers to search for signs of advanced civilizations in our galaxy.
The project — called SETI@home, after the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) — generated a loyal following eager to participate in one of the most popular crowd-sourced projects in the early days of the internet.
They downloaded the SETI@home software to their home computers and allowed it to analyze data recorded at the now-defunct Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to find unusual radio signals.
UC Berkeley's SETI@home, one of the most popular crowd-sourced research projects ever, turned up some 12 billion signals of interest. A lengthy analysis found 100 worth another look.
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