Universe and Outer space

SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra – Terrestrial Intelligence. (SETI@home is a project undertaken by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley). SETI was the first large scale project in this direction, a serious attempt to make contact with extra – terrestrial lifeforms, using telescopes, radio and optical signals as a means to establish contact. Radio waves were chosen as the primary form of signal because they can travel extremely long distances, between stars, and we have the technology to send and receive these signals over long distances.

When this project was launched, it had a lot of expectations. Everyone believed that contact would be made atleast in a few years time. Though we have been sending radio signals for almost 50 years, we haven’t actually achieved our goal. All radio, television and radar signals from our planet leak into space and has been spreading across the galaxy. Moreover, a number of experiments have been carried using radio and optical waves, like sending the ‘WOW’ signal etc…. But till now, none of these experiments has proved to be fruitful.

Probably, we are the only intelligent lifeform in the universe, which places us in a very significant position. What a great feeling will that be… . Or perhaps, other intelligent lifeforms have been sending us radio signals and we still haven’t found the right frequencies to receive them i.e. we just haven’t been looking for the right signals, in the right place, at the right time….