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How do i know if i have a signal?
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donniedarko1970 Send message Joined: 2 Dec 13 Posts: 3 Credit: 6,876 RAC: 0 |
I have recently downloaded & am running the seti@home screensaver helping to look for alien signals & even though i know it's probably a billion to one chance how do i know if i have a signal,what are the signs to look for? |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22160 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
The short answer is - you won't. The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns that are not of either local or know stellar origin (pulsar type events). It does this by taking data from radio telescopes and looking for possible signals, then correlates that data with another sample from the same place at another time, repeating by repeating the same observation several times it is possible to sort out which signals are possible candidates. Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
John McLeod VII Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0 |
If a signal is found and verified, we have been promised that the people that worked on the signals would be informed by email. (Keep your email address up to date). BOINC WIKI |
donniedarko1970 Send message Joined: 2 Dec 13 Posts: 3 Credit: 6,876 RAC: 0 |
Ok thank you. |
donniedarko1970 Send message Joined: 2 Dec 13 Posts: 3 Credit: 6,876 RAC: 0 |
I will do that thank you. |
Joe Marshall Send message Joined: 24 Jan 14 Posts: 1 Credit: 328,389 RAC: 0 |
I am brand new with few computer skills and joined because I follow the TV coverage of SETI and got the impression I could contribute to the effort by volunterring my computer. I down loaded SETI and the recommended other program "Bionic?" but I cannot find instructions on what to do next. Do you have a primer or manual on how to get started? Thank YOU, Joe Marshall |
OzzFan Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 15691 Credit: 84,761,841 RAC: 28 |
BOINC (not bionic) is the project management system that allows you to connect to several science projects and divvy up your computer time between them. SETI@home is just one of the projects you can join. Once you've joined a project, there's nothing else that is really necessary to do as everything is completely automated! BOINC will automatically return the results of tasks you've processed and fetch more tasks to be processed. The only thing you need to do is make sure your computer is running in top condition from time to time, such as opening up the case (if it is a desktop) and blowing out all the dust bunnies out of the computer, or the side vents if you have a laptop. That's all there really is to it. If you have questions about anything, most people are more than happy to answer as best they can. |
draco Send message Joined: 6 Dec 05 Posts: 119 Credit: 3,327,457 RAC: 0 |
>The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns that looks like seti looks for special signal send to cosmos, and regularly repeated? i thing, it is not the best way to search ET? some time ago i readed, a SETI also try to analyze signals who was get from alien civilization tv, radio and so on broadcasts, who definitely not be repeat one signal tens, hundreds and millions times. i think, it is be much more real searching strategie, if we consider all factors. in exampe, in a way who you describe no one can detect our civilization, because we sent only few short special signals to space many years ago, and in a very narrow direction.... but our communuication and brodcast radio runs every day, every hour for decades, and is a omnidirectional... |
OzzFan Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 15691 Credit: 84,761,841 RAC: 28 |
>The way SETI@Home works is it looks for long term repeating patterns You misunderstand what SETI@home is doing and you're thinking too broad. SETI@home is looking for any noise that does not match the natural noise of space within a specific frequency (a.k.a. the "waterhole" frequency). Things in this frequency could be anything, from a purposefully sent signal to things like radio and TV broadcasts. We're not looking for the same episode of the same TV show; we're simply looking for anything that is not natural. That is to say, we're looking for something that would have been put there by an obvious intelligent source. |
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