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| Personal background |
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9I am an electronic engineer working in the field of Optical Astronomy. I recently moved from Hawaii to Arizona. In Hawaii, I spent nearly twelve years building and then operating the two largest optical/infra-red telescopes in the world, the twin Keck Telescopes, atop the dormant volcano Mauna Kea.
9The opportunity to continue with astronomical projects, came in a job offer from the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory to design and construct the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham. When finished the LBT will have the largest monolithic mirrors ever built (8.4m each) and will be even more powerful than either of the Keck telescopes.
The technology demonstrated by the LBT will be used in the design and construction of the Terrestrial Planet Finder, the third generation of space telescopes.
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| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? Of course. Life is all about existence, survive and procreate is the meaning of life. To quote two of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams and Carl Sagan, "Space is big. Really big," and "If there isn't life out there, it seems like an awful waste of space."
As for whether intelligent life has visited Earth, This is the realm of kooks and crackpots. They must not understand the immensity of the Universe. Why would an intelligent civilization, with all the multitude of destinations in the universe to explore, choose a tiny rocky world orbiting a minor star in an otherwise unremarkable section of space. Our own radio signals have just reached the closest handful of stars, all of our technology has yet to distinguish us from a billion other worlds.
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