Are we alone in the universe?

These days, there are fewer places left to carry out the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). That’s why I’m proud to say that the Planetary Society continues to provide vital support for two SETI programs dedicated to answering the question that fascinates us all.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Paul Horowitz and his Harvard Optical SETI team continue an all-sky survey at optical wavelengths using a 72-inch telescope and impressive electronics.

Now, to screen out the distorting effects of radiation, the team is developing a new motherboard and ten “daughter” boards to provide an ultrafast multichannel flash analog digital converter.

And far south in Argentina at Southern SETI, the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia has two 30-meter dishes that can point at the galactic center, the densest star fields in our galaxy.

Their exciting new search strategy is based on natural masers (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) that amplify certain frequencies passing through them from between tens of millions to hundreds of billions of times. Masers might direct our way a crisp signal from another solar system that could otherwise be dissipated or absorbed by interstellar particles.

Here is where we come in: we must raise at least $36,000 to continue our SETI searches that cover the sky from both hemispheres. I need your immediate and most generous donation.
Your donation now to the Planetary Society will help complete the upgrade of Harvard’s Optical SETI system, including testing the new electronics and purchasing upgrades for the telescope. You’ll also be helping to fund the maintenance and operations of the only SETI all-sky survey in existence!
I believe that one day, a SETI scientist will find that elusive signal. And our world will change forever. Will you please be part of the search? We need your help now to fund our SETI programs.

email: info@als-alexander.org or interalex2@gmail.com