Are there any plans for SETI@home or new BOINC project to collect radio signals from Southern hemisphere sky?

Most of the Milky Way stars are located below the equator. There is a higher probability of detecting an ET signal.

Are there any plans for SETI@home or new BOINC project to collect radio signals from Southern hemisphere sky?

Most of the Milky Way stars are located below the equator. There is a higher probability of detecting an ET signal.

that is a good Question, but ...

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli

There is a 64-meter parabolic steerable scope at Parkes, Australia but, gee, that's awfully small. I've heard of no concrete plans to use that scope. Maybe nothing will happen. There has been talk about making a one-square-kilometer array and putting it in Africa or Argentina. It may be in planning now. But its completion would be way off, maybe fifteen years. I don't know how much of its time would be devoted to Seti, either. I believe the One Hectare Array (maybe called the Allen scope), under construction, is in California, too far north to see much of the Southern Hemisphere. Also it's pretty small, too. I think that about four hectares of the seven-hectare Arecibo scope is in use at any one time with the Seti apparatus there - at least that's what I've heard.

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Try this link and this link.

Live long and BOINC!

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Paul
(S@H1 8888)
And proud of it!

Gas Giant, the link you posted, http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/setifuture.html#southern ,states "We are trying to raise funds to conduct these southern hemisphere observations for SETI@home. Funding permitting, we expect the new data recorder to be installed and operational at Parkes in early 2003".


Another article on the subject at http://www.planetary.org/html/UPDATES/seti/SETI@home/Update_101001.htm dated 2001.

So, it's 2008, where are we and what has happened to those plans?

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Gas Giant, the link you posted, http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/setifuture.html#southern ,states "We are trying to raise funds to conduct these southern hemisphere observations for SETI@home. Funding permitting, we expect the new data recorder to be installed and operational at Parkes in early 2003".


Another article on the subject at http://www.planetary.org/html/UPDATES/seti/SETI@home/Update_101001.htm dated 2001.

So, it's 2008, where are we and what has happened to those plans?

You need to ask the project that question. I've tried, but the project person who answered didn't even know that they once had plans for southern SETI@home, which was most disappointing.

I believe that Parkes still has a SERENDIP biggyback project happening.

Would a South Pole array be a good idea?
It's one way too keep the thermal noise under control!

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Actually building an array in antartica would be a bad idea, as it is almost always below zero, which means that the parts stand a very real chance of simply freezing solid.

Not to mention the dishe(s) would be cold and the equipment underneath would be hot, so the dish would most likely warp.

There is also the fact that a very strong blizzard could damage or even outright destroy the array (remember the fastest winds ever recorded on Earth were in Antarctica).

But yes, in terms of man made interferrence Antarctica would be one of the better spots to build an array

There is a big array of radiotelescopes being built on the Atacama desert in Chile but I doubt they will provide data to SETI@home.
ALMA
Tullio

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Actually building an array in antartica would be a bad idea, as it is almost always below zero, which means that the parts stand a very real chance of simply freezing solid.

Not to mention the dishe(s) would be cold and the equipment underneath would be hot, so the dish would most likely warp.

There is also the fact that a very strong blizzard could damage or even outright destroy the array (remember the fastest winds ever recorded on Earth were in Antarctica).

But yes, in terms of man made interferrence Antarctica would be one of the better spots to build an array

Also you must keep in mind the risck of the ice shifting. This would cause some serious problem to any array buitlt in Antartica.

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Although there are mountains down there, with some peaks above the ice if I'm not mistaken.

OK, not really a serious suggestion, but a possibility nonetheless. :)

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There is a 64-meter parabolic steerable scope at Parkes, Australia but, gee, that's awfully small. I've heard of no concrete plans to use that scope. Maybe nothing will happen. There has been talk about making a one-square-kilometer array and putting it in Africa or Argentina. It may be in planning now. But its completion would be way off, maybe fifteen years. I don't know how much of its time would be devoted to Seti, either. I believe the One Hectare Array (maybe called the Allen scope), under construction, is in California, too far north to see much of the Southern Hemisphere. Also it's pretty small, too. I think that about four hectares of the seven-hectare Arecibo scope is in use at any one time with the Seti apparatus there - at least that's what I've heard.

The SKA (square kilometer array), is being debated for South Africa or Western Australia. Just in case anyone wanted to know.

<a href="http://www.skatelescope.org">SKA home page</a>


2009-10 Decisions on funding, governance, and site

2011 Start of construction of Phase 1 (10% SKA)

2014 Early science with Phase 1 - the first 10% of the array

2020 Full SKA operational


I hope they decide on Australia. It'll be great to know that the open expanses of Australia are used for something worthwhile.

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Whitefang Greytail

Thanks for the update and welcome to these forums!

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Try this link and this link.

Live long and BOINC!

Unfortunately all the links on the Uni of Western Sydney side seem to be broken. I did look up the Parkes web site and according to their current schedule it has bookings for seti observations from Apr to Jul 2008.

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