kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010
Posts: 785
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 Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:24 am Post subject: Catalog of Nearby |
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The most optimistic search project to date was Project Ozma, which was intended to "search for extraterrestrial intelligence" (SETI) by examining selected stars for indications of artificial radio signals. It was run by the astronomer Frank Drake, who selected Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani as the initial targets. Both are located near the solar system and are physically similar to the Sun. No artificial signals were found despite 200 hours of observations.[43] Subsequent radio searches of this star system have also turned up negative.
This lack of results has not dampened interest in observing the Tau Ceti system for biosignatures. In 2002, astronomers Margaret Turnbull and Jill Tarter developed the Catalog of Nearby Habitable Systems (HabCat) under the auspices of Project Phoenix, another SETI endeavour. The list contained more than 17,000 theoretically habitable systems, approximately 10% of the original sample.[44] The next year, Turnbull would further refine the list to the 30 most promising systems out of 5,000 within one hundred light-years of the Sun, including Tau Ceti; this will form part of the basis of radio searches with the Allen Telescope Array.[45] She also chose Tau Ceti for a final shortlist of just five stars suitable for searches by the (indefinitely postponed[46]) Terrestrial Planet Finder telescope system, commenting that "these are places I'd want to live if God were to put our planet around another stargrief counseling
gps tracking system |
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