http://www.seti-inst.edu/

For many years there have been small unco-ordinated projects to search for evidence to extraterrestrial life. These have been mainly by looking for unexpected radio transmissions using radio-telescopes. In 1984, NASA funded the “Search for extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute” in Mountain View, Calif. to scrutinize radio signals in the vicinities of nearby sun-like stars in an attempt to detect an alien signal. The Institute today employs over 100 scientists, educators and support staff. Research at the Institute is anchored by two centers, each directed by a renowned scientist who holds an endowed chair. Dr. Jill Tarter leads the Center for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research as Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI, while Dr. Christopher Chyba holds the Carl Sagan Chair, and directs the Center for the Study of Life in the Universe.

SETI@home uses the idle time of over four million personal computers to sift through radio data for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations . You, too, can join SETI@home and unleash the iddle power of your computer.

The three main signal types of interest are:

Gaussians are the power curves produced when the Arecibo beam scans a steady celestial radio source. The signal is weak at first, strong when it is at the center of the beam, and then fades again. This produces a bell shaped power curve known as a gaussian.

Pulses represent any celestial radio signal of a fixed frequency that is distinguishable above the background noise.

Triplets are a sets of 3 equally spaced spikes. Whereas gaussians represent a constant signal from space, triplets may represent a series of pulses transmitted at fixed time intervals.

The Wow is the most intriguing signals capted so far by the SETI.

Sponsorship

Institute projects have been sponsored by:

·NASA Ames Research Center
·NASA Headquarters
·National Science Foundation
·Department of Energy
·US Geological Survey
·Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
·International Astronomical Union
·Argonne National Laboratory
·Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
·David & Lucile Packard Foundation
·Paul G. Allen Foundation
·Gordon and Betty Moore
·Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
·Pacific Science Center
·Foundation for Microbiology
·Sun Microsystems
·Hewlett Packard Company
·William and Rosemary Hewlett
·Bernard M. Oliver
·And many others

The Institute welcomes support from private foundations or other groups/individuals interested in SETI. Each funded effort (135 separate multi-year projects funded since 1984) is supervised by a principal investigator who is responsible to the Board of Trustees for the conduct of the activity.