Lecture 37. SETI and the Drake Equation..ppt

* Lecture 37. SETI and the Drake Equation. reading: Chapter 11; The UFO Phenomenon ~50% of the US public believe intelligent ETs have visited the Earth. Many scientists readily accept a high probability of life somewhere in the universe. Few accept UFOs. Why? - photographs are not enough to support the extraordinary claim that aliens have visited the Earth - unsupported personal accounts - “evidence” more logically explained by known earthly phenomena - no one has provided unequivocal evidence - explanations used to account for insufficient evidence the government is hiding the bodies scientists/government engaging in a conspiracy/cover-up scientists are biased/can’t be trusted ETs have modified people’s minds witnesses abducted and no longer exist. What Could Be Out There? Nikolai Kardashev’s 3 types of civilizations: Type1. Planetary Civilization. Use the resources of their home planet only. Type2. Stellar Civilization. Can harness the resources of their home star. Type3. Galactic Civilization. Uses the resources of the entire galaxy. A technologically adept civilization could capture all of the Sun’s light energy by building a large sphere with solar cells = Dyson Sphere Would absorb all light of the star, emitting only infrared radiation (heat) We’ve Been Sending Signals Unintentional messages: Beginnings of radio broadcasts in 1906. Beginnings of TV broadcasts in 1927. Intentional messages: 1974 Arecibo radio telescope, Puerto Rico most powerful message deliberately beamed into space omnidirectional broadcast 20 trillion watt message aimed at the globular cluster M13 (21,000 lyrs away) detectable anywhere in the galaxy given a radio telescope of the size of Arecibo bits transmitted by frequency shifting at 10 bits/sec Simple, pictorial message containing our solar system, a radio telescope, DNA, etc. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Goal: to identify a signal from another intelligent, communicating civilizati