The NIROSETI (Near-InfraRed Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is an astronomical program to search for artificial signals in the optical (
visible
Visibility, in meteorology, is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be seen.
Visibility may also refer to:
* A measure of turbidity in water quality control
* Interferometric visibility, which quantifies interference contrast ...
) and
near infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
(NIR) wavebands of the
electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.
The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from ...
. It is the first dedicated near-infrared
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other p ...
experiment.
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
,
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, and the
SETI Institute
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...
, situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, California, USA.Steven S. Vogt et al., APF - The Lick Observatory Automated Planet Finder ', 26 February 2014. The instrument was commissioned (saw its first light) on 15 March 2015 and has been operated for more than 150 nights, and is still operational today.
Overview
The NIROSETI project is based on the assumption that hypothetical communicative extraterrestrials may send out pulsed
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
signals in the optical, as well as infrared spectrum. Near-infrared offers a possible way for signal transmission since there is a decrease in both interstellar extinction and Galactic background compared to optical wavelengths. OIR Lab. Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California San Diego. 2017. The near-infrared bands remain largely unexplored because instruments capable of capturing short pulses of infrared light have only recently become available.
The NIROSETI instrument makes use of the 1-meter optical Nickel telescope located at the
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...
in California to search for near-infrared (
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
) transmissions from extraterrestrial communication or technosignatures. This project was funded by the Bill and Susan Bloomfield Foundation and is based upon a predecessor called Lick Optical SETI instrument, conducted between 2001 and 2006. Professor Shelley Wright leads the team that built and operates the NIROSETI program. and significantly reducing false positives. Its field-of-view is 2.5"x2.5" each, and focuses
on detecting short (nanosecond) pulsed laser emissions. The NIROSETI instrument is also being used to study variability of very short natural near-infrared transient stars.
Targets
The NIROSETI survey has been designed for observing several thousand objects over a few years, and commenced full operations on 28 January 2016. During a clear night of observations, about 20 to 30 objects are observed. Because infrared light penetrates farther through gas and dust than visible light, this search will extend to stars thousands of
light-years
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...
away. The initial target sample is mostly main-sequence and giant stars located within 50
parsec
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (au), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and ...
spirals
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:ellipticals, 15 dwarf spheroidals, 9
irregulars
Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...
, and 2 lenticular galaxies), as well as stars that triggered alarms on other targeted SETI surveys.
A significant drawback is that the extraterrestrial laser signals would need to be transmitted in the direction of the Solar System in order to be detected.
See also
*
Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC, pronounced – rhymes with "oink") is an open-source middleware system for volunteer computing (a type of distributed computing). Developed originally to support SETI@home, it beca ...