69 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: SETI OPTICAL SEARCH BEST ? FILE: UFO1003
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PART 3
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SETI 3
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Philosopher Clive Goodall will rebut Frank Tipler's arguments, and
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Noted philosopher Professor Neil Tennant will present his view of why
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there could be major problems in actually decoding the message on an ETI
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signal. This may be the first time that philosophers have presented
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papers at a "technical" meeting on SETI, particularly one organized by
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SPIE. Dr. Guillermo Lemarchand will describe both radio and optical
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SETI activities in Argentina and give an account of the MANIA optical
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SETI project devised by the late Professor Shvartsman of the former
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Soviet Union. Drs. John Rather and Monte Ross (conference co-chairman)
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will give accounts of their approaches to interstellar laser communi-
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cations, while this author will present a review paper and describe the
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amateur approach to optical SETI. There will be a discussion at the end
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of the conference, moderated by Charles Townes, who earlier will talk
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about his CO2 optical SETI laser work, and the CO2 OSETI observations
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being conducted by Dr. Albert Betz on Mount Wilson.
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Note that as with previous SETI publications, the latest book by
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SETI pioneer Professor Frank Drake and Dava Sobel IS ANYONE OUT THERE?
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hardly mentions the optical approach. This conference intends to
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redress that omission. This "controversial" OSETI conference should be
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a "fun" event but you do not need to be a laser communications engineer
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or SETI scientist to attend - you only need a curiosity about "our"
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place in the grand scheme of things.
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With large telescopes, Optical SETI is the one branch of visible
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astronomy, save for solar astronomy, that can be done during the day
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under a clear blue sky!
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Last October, we saw the celebration of the Quincentennial of
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Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas and the official start
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of NASA's Microwave Observing Project (MOP), recently renamed the High
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Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). Numerous articles on SETI have
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appeared in recent magazine publications, including the September 1992
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issue of LIFE, the October issue of ASTRONOMY, and the November/December
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issue of SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE. See also recent issues of TIME and
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NEWSWEEK. The November issue of SKY & TELESCOPE has a long article
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about microwave SETI and mentions the optical approach. This is
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probably the first published popular account of modern OSETI in the
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printed media. See the bibliography at the end of this article.
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I have also begun the construction of what I believe to be the
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world's first amateur optical SETI (AMOSETI) Observatory. This will be
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based around the Meade 10-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and i
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one of the most advanced on the market today for use under computer and
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CCD control. In the last paper of the conference, I will be reporting
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on the amateur approach to Optical SETI and any work done to date on my
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observatory system. In many respects, the approach adopted by the
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author for AMOSETI is similar to that employed by Shvartsman and Beskin
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in the MANIA project, i.e., looking for very short pulses rather than CW
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beacon signals. It is possible that AMOSETI will lead to a renaissance
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in amateur astronomy, where light pollution - the bane of astronomers -
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has no effect on ETI detection sensitivity!
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At this time during the sharp decline in the industrial-military
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complex, can there be a more ennobling way for defense conversion - to
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turn laser swords into SETI or CETI plowshares and help discover that we
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are not alone within the Milky Way galaxy? Monte and I look forward to
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seeing you at this conference at the rebirth of a new branch of science.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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