A New Search For Alien Signals

The first radio telescope dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has formally started operations. The first phase of the Allen Telescope Array, which is being built near Hat Creek, California, US, has begun functioning with 42 radio antennas. When complete, the ATA will have 350 dishes, each about 6 metres wide. Until now, the SETI project has relied on time borrowed from instruments like the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, and has had little control over the extent and nature of the observations. The Allen Telescope Array, however, named for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who donated seed money for the project, will allow SETI astronomers to survey the skies for signs of alien intelligence 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "This will be the first time that we can actually have a telescope [with] the characteristics we can determine," says Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research in Mountain View, California.