Search for aliens takes light approach
A new optical telescope designed solely to detect light signals from alien civilisations has opened for work at an observatory in the United States, according to a report on the BBC's website.
It will conduct a year-round survey, scanning the entire Milky Way galaxy visible from the Northern Hemisphere. The new telescope, which has a 1.8-metre primary mirror, is the first dedicated optical Seti (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) telescope in the world. Seti is an exploratory science to scour the cosmos for signatures of technology built by alien beings. Some experts believe alien societies are at least as likely to use light for communicating as radio transmissions. "Sending laser signals across the cosmos would be a very logical way for ET to reach out; but until now, we have been ill-equipped to receive any such signal," said Bruce Betts, director of projects at the Planetary Society, which funded the telescope. Astronomers have been using radio telescopes to look for transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligence since the 1960s. But some scientists believe that alien civilisations might opt for visible light to communicate. The telescope has been installed at the Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics at Oak Ridge Observatory.
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