[FoLUG]Fw: Optical SETI Awaits Completion

[Ivan]

ricevo e forwardo dalla planetary society. ricordo che il folug ha anche
il suo gruppo SETI, vero enrico ? 

Begin forwarded message:

Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 17:21:47 -0700
From: The Planetary Society <tps.mbl@planetary.org>
To: "SETI Updates" <seti@lists.planetary.org>
Subject: Optical SETI Awaits Completion


Dear SETI supporter,

Our pioneering Optical SETI project urgently awaits
completion.

Once again, The Planetary Society has the chance to
make history. And this time, it's history you can
see...history you can wrap your hands around.

The Optical SETI telescope, at 72 inches, is the
largest optical telescope in the U.S. east of the
Mississippi River. And in a very short time, when
the light detectors, camera, and analysis equipment
are in and operational, it will be the first
custom-built, professional optical observatory
ever dedicated full-time to the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Just another observatory? Not on your life!

The day we finally hit the "on" switch, our
Optical SETI efforts will leap ahead exponentially.
Instead of watching a relative handful of selected
stars (less than 0.0001% of all that Optical SETI
is theoretically capable of watching) we'll be
monitoring a vast slice of the sky each night for
a visible sign of intelligent life elsewhere in
the universe.

This optical search truly is a crucial addition
to our SETI enterprise.  No longer will we be
ignoring an extremely viable way for intelligent
life to communicate among the stars...we will be
listening AND looking for any sign that may
come our way.

But once again, if we are to make history -- if we
want to see our efforts through to the end -- we're
going to need help from you.

You see, the job is not quite finished. We're
almost there, but breaking new ground for SETI
technology -- developing sophisticated equipment
that will make this optical search one of the
most advanced SETI efforts around -- is a
complicated and expensive proposition.

Which is why I am writing today to ask you for a
special contribution to help bring this project
to fruition. We have committed to providing
$400,000 for Optical SETI.  We've already raised
$250,000, but we still need at least $150,000 to
finish the project.  We have made remarkable
progress, but we need your help to complete
this pioneering project.

To help complete this project, go to:
https://planetary.org/donations.html

Now, let me take a moment to tell you about the
groundbreaking computer chip that is the cornerstone
of our Optical SETI project.  This chip is literally
history you can hold in your hand. The tiny device
can measure an incredible 32 BILLION voltage
measurements PER SECOND. So a full array of 32 such
chips -- the number we'll be installing in the signal
processing equipment in our new telescope -- will
crank out 1 TRILLION voltage measurements every second!

The human mind really can't abstractly grasp how large
a number that is. So think of it this way: each and
every second, this chip array will be able to process
the complete contents of every book in print worldwide!

This amazing device -- designed by Project Director
Paul Horowitz and a brilliant graduate student,
Andrew Howard -- is so cutting-edge that the
fabrication required is extremely complex and
costly. But believe me, this project is worth it -
we are literally opening up a new branch of
science observations.

What we're looking for may sound like the stuff of
science-fiction: a concentrated beam of light -
a laser -- flashing in the night sky. But this
method of signaling across the vast distances of
space is something we on Earth could do right now,
even with our relatively young technology. So it
makes sense that there may be other civilizations
trying to communicate with us in this way.

And think of what a discovery it would be -
the greatest in human history -- to find intelligent
life on a distant planet.

Yes, THIS is the kind of work your contributions
have been doing. And make no mistake, the world is
watching! Indeed, our pioneering work has been
featured in Discover and Astronomy magazines, and
not too long ago the Scientific American TV show
with Alan Alda visited the project site.

Optical SETI is reaching a critical moment. The
first full time dedicated search is so close to
going on-line. When it does, then in a mere blink
of an eye, we will massively expand the search.

Please, help immediately to get our Optical SETI
telescope finished and operational! Donate today at
https://planetary.org/donations.html

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Louis D. Friedman
Executive Director
http://planetary.org

Read more about Optical SETI at:
http://www.planetary.org/html/UPDATES/seti/oseti_article.html
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