Comments on: Has Optical SETI discovered aliens?

By: Jim Harris

Jim Harris — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:37:23 +0000

What if a Planck like spacecraft could be designed to detect pulse signals and process as many stars as the Planck satellite can?

How powerful does a laser have to be to get seen many light years away. And how far from the local star would it have to be to help it stand out?

By: A.N.mouse

A.N.mouse — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:26:13 +0000

This has the same problem as radio SETI… what if the alien cultures within range are only listening too?

Optical transmission might be a way that amateurs could contribute. You’d need a pulsed laser of moderate power, [say 100watts] a decent telescope to shine it though, and something like a morse code key to interrupt the pulsed beam.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:19:36 +0000

This will have the same effect on the world community as the ”WOW’ signal did. It will be big news for a while until we figure out that even if aliens sent it we have no hope of deciphering it meaning or significance.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:48:44 +0000

This means that amateurs can contribute more to SETI than their spare processor cycles.

If we do detect an ET signal, should we try to reply?