SETI Live

We follow up with SETI Artist in Residence Jonathon Keats about his project The Library of the Great Silence, an installation art project that addresses one of the implications of the Fermi Paradox. If the cosmos is only sparsely populated by intelligent beings that implies that at some point in their development almost all technological societies encounter a barrier they cannot cross. To counter such a dystopian prospect, Keats proposes an intergalactic lending library to research planetary futures. Branches of this library have already been installed at the Allen Telescope Array and at museums and universities around the world. Join SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget in conversation with Jonathon Keats and find out what’s in the library! Recorded on 7 September 2023.

An enigmatic cosmic entity has been consistently beaming radio waves to Earth every 22 minutes for over three decades, perplexing the scientific community. Identified as GPM J1839−10, this celestial body is believed to be a fading star emitting energy from its poles. Yet, intriguingly, its spin is so leisurely it seems implausible for its existence, marking it both incredibly stable and unusually slow. We’re thrilled to have Natasha Hurley-Walker, the leading radio astronomer from Curtin University in Australia, who spearheaded the research in conversation with the SETI astronomer and Chief Scientific Officer at Unistellar, Franck Marchis. Together, they’ll delve into this baffling find, initially spotted in archival data from 1988 and later confirmed through 2022 observations using the MeerKAT array. Could this star be something new? Maybe it changes what we think we know about other stars. Or could it be a signal from aliens? 

Record live 24 August 2023.

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06202-5

SETI Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Daedelus imagines the first 10,000 days after first contact with an alien civilization and puts those imaginings to music. Daedelus calls this post-detection era the 'Xenopocene', which also serves as the title of their newly released album. In this conversation with SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget, discover Daedelus’ creative process and what inspired them during their two-year residency with the AIR program, plus listen in on this fascinating album that weaves influences of Gustav Holst, Sun Ra, Alice Deejay, and Amon Tobin. Recorded live 17 August 2023.

Listen to Xenopocene: https://daedelusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/xenopocene

Tune in to this week's SETI Live broadcast, beamed directly from Devon Island in the High Arctic. This exceptional locale serves as a remarkable analog, mirroring key environmental features of both the Moon and Mars to help prepare for their exploration. Dr. Pascal Lee and his team have embarked on their annual expedition to study the local geology and microbiology, and their relevance to the Moon and Mars. Beyond their scientific mission, they're putting spacesuits, drills, and cutting-edge technologies through rigorous trials, all destined for potential deployment in the human quest to explore the Moon and Mars.

Join SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond as he discusses this exciting research and fascinating location with Dr. Lee, live via Starlink from the Arctic.

Recorded live on 10 August 2023.

Frontier Development Lab (FDL) is an applied artificial intelligence (AI) research accelerator fostering collaboration among researchers, scientists, and engineers across diverse fields. FDL aims to address paramount challenges in space and Earth science through cutting-edge AI and Machine Learning applications. FDL is a collaborative effort of the SETI Institute, NASA, the Department of Energy (DoE), and prominent private sector partners.

Discover the immense potential of AI for space exploration, Earth sciences, and humanity as SETI Institute CEO, Bill Diamond, engages in a compelling conversation with Jason Talley from the DoE's Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office. Together, they delve into the transformative possibilities that AI brings to these critical domains, pushing the boundaries of innovation and exploration.

Recorded live 3 August 2023.

In an unprecedented achievement, citizen scientists have set a new record for the SETI Institute and Unistellar, comprising the highest number of observers providing data on a single event. Amateur astronomers participating in the SETI Institute’s and Unistellar’s Cosmic Cataclysms program conducted a groundbreaking observation of supernova (SN) 2023ixf. The observations, which began just one hour after the supernova’s first known appearance, have generated the longest continuous light curve of this supernova gathered by citizen scientists that has been published to date.

Join Simon Steel, Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research, as he discusses this record-breaking citizen science project with researcher Lauren Sgro.

Press release: https://www.seti.org/press-release/record-breaking-team-citizen-scientists-contribute-data-pinwheel-galaxy-supernova

Research note: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ace41f

Recorded live 27 July 2023.

We will present the first on-sky demonstration of the Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope (FIRST) instrument at the Subaru Telescope. Using techniques of aperture masking and spatial filtering, FIRST combines the power of spectro-interferometry to deliver high contrast capabilities and spatial resolutions beyond the reach of traditional coronagraphic instruments.

We will explain the 'pupil remapping' technique - the heart of the FIRST instrument - and its practical applications. This process divides the telescope pupil into sub-pupils, enabling simultaneous measurements of all baseline fringe patterns. Our researchers tested this instrument on two types of targets: a point source (Keho'oea - α Lyrae) and a binary system (Hokulei - α Aurigae), achieving a contrast and stability sufficient to study the close surroundings of those stars.

The successful demonstration of FIRST signifies a significant step forward for future interferometric instrumentation on extremely large telescopes, opening new observing capabilities in the visible wavelength range at the Subaru Telescope.

With the SETI Institute's Franck Marchis and Sebastien Vievard, exoplanet instrumentation scientist on SCExAO.

Recorded live 20 July 2023

If an alien civilization wanted to communicate with other civilizations throughout the Milky Way, the galaxy’s core holds potential as a strategic site for a beacon. Until now, radio SETI has primarily dedicated its efforts to the search for continuous signals. A new study sheds light on the remarkable energy efficiency of a train of pulses as a means of interstellar communication across vast distances. This marks the first-ever comprehensive endeavor to conduct in-depth searches for these signals. Join us in discussion with Dr. Vishal Gajjar, a SETI Institute astronomer working at the Allen Telescope Array.

Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/acccf0

Recorded live 13 July 2023.

Meet Adriana Knouf, our newest artist in residence! Adriana engages with topics such as wet media, space art, satellites, radio transmission, non-human encounters, queer and trans futurities, and machine learning. Join SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget and Adriana as they talk about her project TX-1, which has flown on the International Space Station, TX-2, an experiment in speculative satellite construction, and how space travel can be made more accessible to those marked as transgender.

Recorded live 6 July 2023.

Gravitational waves play a cosmic symphony as they pass through our galaxy. This week, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center released the results of 15 years of data in a set of papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. This research is the first evidence of gravitational waves at very low frequencies.

The team, comprised of 190 scientists, transformed our region of the Milky Way Galaxy into an immense gravitational-wave antenna using pulsars. NANOGrav's endeavor involved collecting data from 68 pulsars, fashioning a pulsar timing array—a distinctive type of detector.

In 2020, with over a decade of data, NANOGrav scientists detected hints of an additional enigmatic "hum" in the timing behavior of all the pulsars in their array. After exploring alternative explanations, they grew confident in the authenticity of this signal. Its detection became increasingly feasible with more extensive observations. However, at that stage, the gravitational-wave signature predicted by general relativity remained too faint to emerge. After fifteen years of pulsar observations, the evidence of gravitational waves, with periods spanning years to decades, emerges prominently.

Join Simon Steel, Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center, as he discusses this groundbreaking research with NANOGrav team member and SETI Institute researcher Dr. Michael Lam.

Press release: https://www.seti.org/press-release/nanogravs-15-year-journey-reveals-cosmic-hum

Recorded live 29 June 2023

The search for life beyond Earth received a slight boost from new research published in Nature this month. Scientists working with data collected by NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn discovered evidence of phosphates in ice particles ejected via cryovolcanism into the E-ring structure by the tiny moon Enceladus. Although a mere 500 kilometers in diameter, Enceladus is a huge target in the quest for astrobiology in our solar system as beneath the outer ice shell lies a subsurface ocean about 10 km deep. That ocean is warmed via tidal heating, and plumes of water vapor escape through cracks in the surface.

Enter the Cassini mission, which spent over 13 years orbiting Saturn, collecting data on the gas giant, the rings, and various moons, including Enceladus. The spacecraft even flew through the plumes, using instruments such as the ion and neutral mass spectrometer (INMS) and the cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) to directly sample the material. Over the years, five of the six elements considered to be the building blocks for life as we know it - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur - have been found within those ice grains. The recent discovery of the sixth element, in the form of phosphates, not only completes the set but provides an ingredient necessary for the creation of DNA and RNA.

While the discovery is not evidence of life on Enceladus, the potential for life in that subsurface ocean continues to grow. Please join lead author Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin, and SETI Institute senior scientist Franck Marchis as they discuss the impact of this discovery, the deeper meaning for the search for life beyond Earth, and what's next for the research.

Press releases: https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/presse/informationen/fup/2023/fup_23_137-saturnmond-enceladus-ozean-phosphate/index.html

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-cassini-data-reveals-building-block-for-life-in-enceladus-ocean

https://www.swri.org/press-release/key-building-block-life-found-saturn-moon-enceladus

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05987-9

Recorded 22 June 2023

Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, Director of the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center, joins us live from the Global Exploration Summit in Portugal. Last week Cabrol was co-author on a comment published in Nature Astronomy that explored the implications and potential scientific impacts on increased activity on Mars, specifically, human-crewed missions. How will the presence of people on Mars affect the search for past or present life and what planetary protection measures will be required to protect the integrity of scientific research as well as life here on Earth when crews return? Hosted by Dr. Simon Steel, Deputy Director of the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center.

Read more about the comment at seti.org: https://bit.ly/43WGnNU

Recorded 13 June 2023.

NASA's JWST revealed a groundbreaking discovery about the true nature of main belt comets. The surprising presence of water in a main belt comet is challenging our understanding of the solar system's origins. The recent study of this enigmatic comet ignited intriguing questions about its composition, history, and potential interstellar origins.

Join Mike Kelley, an astronomer from the University of Maryland, and Dr. Franck Marchis, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, for our next SETI Live. Mike and Franck will discuss the significance of this discovery and the implications for astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life as it connects cometary bodies and the delivery of water and organic molecules to Earth.

Press release: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-123

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06152-y

Recorded live 8 June 2023.

A team of scientists and engineers from the SETI Institute, Impossible Sensing, NASA JPL, and other institutions will test their innovative robotic laser system on a deep-sea expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus. The mission, called InVADER (In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research), aims to advance technologies to explore, characterize and sample the seabed here on Earth. In particular, InVADER’s Laser Divebot will find marine minerals and catalog biodiversity in the seabed faster and more affordably than ever.

Join communications specialist Beth Johnson as she chats with SETI Institute research scientist and project lead Pablo Sobron about this new mission and the future of remote sensing.

Press release: https://www.seti.org/press-release/invader-mission-test-its-robotic-laser-divebot-deep-sea-expedition

There was a total solar eclipse in Australia on Thursday, April 20 (which was Wednesday, April 19 here in California).

Join SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond with Madhulika (Lika) Guhathkurta, PhD Senior Advisor for New Initiatives, GSFC/HPD Program Scientist/Heliophysics, NASA HQ. Lika is in Australia for the eclipse and will talk to us about what we can learn from this phenomenon and why eclipses are so special. Recorded 18 April 2023.

A new NASA mission to Saturn’s giant moon, Titan, is due to launch in 2027. When it arrives in the mid-2030s, it will begin a journey of discovery that could bring about a new understanding of the development of life in the universe. This mission, called Dragonfly, will carry an instrument called the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), designed to help scientists hone in on the chemistry at work on Titan. It may also shed light on the kinds of chemical steps that occurred on Earth that ultimately led to the formation of life, called prebiotic chemistry.

Join Dragonfly Deputy PI and DRaMS instrument lead Melissa Trainer in a conversation with communications specialist Beth Johnson, as they discuss this upcoming mission and the potential science discoveries DRaMS could bring. Recorded on 13 April 2023.

More information: https://www.nasa.gov/dragonfly

As research teams around the world prepare for the launch of two separate missions to our 'sister planet' Venus, other scientists are spending their time looking through the data already collected by previous missions. Take, for example, the Magellan spacecraft, which mapped the surface of Venus from September 1990 through October 1994 using synthetic aperture radar. Last month, Science published a new paper detailing how scientists compared two radar images space eight months apart and discovered a volcanic vent that had grown and changed shape in that time period.

Join co-author Robert Herrick from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and communications specialist Beth Johnson as they discuss how the discovery was made, how it changes what we know of Venus, and what the new information could mean for future Venus missions. (Recorded live on 6 April 2023.

Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm7735

Author and book designer Rebecca Demarest will be featured on this episode of SETI Live, along with astronomer and SETI Research Scientist Paul Dalba. The two will delve into the upcoming Exotopia expedition, an experimental sci-fi narrative that invites participants to embark on imaginary journeys to study extraterrestrial life on actual exoplanets within our galaxy.

The forthcoming voyage will transport us to TOI-1452 b, a super-Earth exoplanet situated roughly 100 lightyears from Earth. TOI-1452 b orbits a red dwarf star within its Habitable Zone, an area where there is a possibility of liquid water on the planet's surface, given the presence of a protective atmosphere. Although scientists have some understanding of TOI-1452 b's characteristics, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding this newly discovered world.

The Exotopia expedition will explore this enigma and offer travelers the opportunity to illustrate their own adventure using AI-generated art. Join us as we discuss the unique confluence of astronomy, art, sci-fi, and AI technology related to this distinctive storytelling experience.

When pondering the probability of discovering technologically advanced extraterrestrial life, the question that often arises is, "if they're out there, why haven't we found them yet?" And often, the response is that we have only searched a tiny portion of the galaxy. Further, algorithms developed decades ago for the earliest digital computers can be outdated and inefficient when applied to modern petabyte-scale datasets. Now, research published in Nature Astronomy and led by an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Peter Ma, along with researchers from the SETI Institute, Breakthrough Listen and scientific research institutions around the world, has applied a deep learning technique to a previously studied dataset of nearby stars and uncovered eight previously unidentified signals of interest.

Join Senior Scientist Franck Marchis in conversation with lead author Peter Ma, co-author Leandro Rizk, and their supervisor, SETI Institute astronomer Cherry Ng, as they discuss the usefulness of machine learning, their recent findings, and the potential for the future of SETI. (Recorded live 23 March 2023.)

Paper: https://seti.berkeley.edu/ml_gbt/overview.html

Astronomers learn about the universe by looking up, but the closest, most fascinating and most important (to us) astronomical object is below our feet. As we discover more and more planets in our galaxy, the importance of understanding and protecting our own “pale blue dot” becomes ever more critical. Join Professor Adrienne Cool, astrophysicist at San Francisco State University and founder of Astronomers for Planet Earth and Jessica Agnos, co-founder, in a conversation about the universe, the Earth and why astronomers have a unique perspective on one very special planet. Recorded live on 8 March 2023.