Skip to Content
Uncategorized

SETI: The Next Generation

New telescope technology is expanding the search for extraterrestrial life.
October 17, 2007

Last week, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, unveiled the first 42 radio dishes of the new Allen Telescope Array (ATA). This telescope–essentially a set of dish-shaped antennas that collect radiation from space–will point toward the sky, scanning it for stray signals and signs of extraterrestrial life. Eventually, the array will consist of a staggering 350 dishes.

Previously, most radio telescope arrays have had a relatively small number of antennas. But because of the drop in cost of high-performance radio amplifiers, it’s now feasible to build a large number of small dishes–each one in the ATA is six meters in diameter–while keeping costs down.

With 42 dishes, the radio will have a wide-angle view of the sky, be able to observe several star systems concurrently, and monitor 40 million radio channels. According to a press release on SETI’s website, the ATA will eventually look at a million nearby start systems–a thousand times more systems than has ever been examined in the past.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google

Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.

Video: Geoffrey Hinton talks about the “existential threat” of AI

Watch Hinton speak with Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor for AI, at EmTech Digital.

Doctors have performed brain surgery on a fetus in one of the first operations of its kind

A baby girl who developed a life-threatening brain condition was successfully treated before she was born—and is now a healthy seven-week-old.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.