Wit's Just for Fun

Wit and SETI

What is SETI?

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver's electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

Projects in which Wit is participating

Project Click for user page	Total credit	Average credit	Since
climateprediction.net	1,002,466	2,397	6 Dec 2008
Einstein@Home	366,963	1,096	25 Nov 2009
MilkyWay@home	313,027	502	1 Dec 2009
SETI@home	1,682,017	435	15 Sep 2000
SIMAP	30,754	292	6 Dec 2008
ABC@home	96,053	264	1 Dec 2009
Rosetta@home	49,867	159	25 Nov 2009
malariacontrol.net	21,942	121	1 Dec 2009
PrimeGrid	1,766	102	22 Jul 2010
POEM@HOME	1,396	89	22 Jul 2010
Enigma@Home	1,314	72	22 Jul 2010
SZTAKI Desktop Grid	465	36	22 Jul 2010
Lattice Project	13,704	0	25 Nov 2009

Have a Great Day,
Wit

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