Project Phoenix (SETI)
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Project Phoenix is a SETI project: a search for extraterrestrial intelligence by listening for radio signals. It is run by the independently funded SETI Institute of Mountain View, California, USA.
Project Phoenix started work in February 1995 with the Parkes radio telescope located in New South Wales, Australia, the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere.
Between September 1996 and April 1998 the project used the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, USA.
Rather than attempting to scan the whole sky for messages, the project concentrates on nearby systems that are similar to our own (i.e., those most likely to have planets capable of supporting life). This means the project concentrates on about 800 stars with a 200 light-year range.
The project searches for radio signals as narrow as 1 Hz between 1,000 and 3,000 MHz: a particularly broad spread, and a particularly narrow focus.
Current observations are made using the telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico (the facility that succeeded in finding extraterrestrial intelligence in the novel The Sparrow).
In March 2004 the project announced that after checking the 800 stars on its list, it had failed to find any evidence of extra-terrestrial signals. Project leader Peter Backus remarked that they had been forced to conclude that "we live in a quiet neighborhood".
See also
External links
- Project Phoenix (http://www.seti.org/seti/our_projects/project_phoenix/oveview/overview.html)
- BBC report on the end of the 800-star scan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3567729.stm)