The Phoenix Project Of SETI Institute

SETI (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) - a non profit research institution which deals with exploring, understanding and explaining the source and form of life in the cosmos and applying the understanding gained to steer humanity carried out the Phoenix project from 1995 February to March 2004. The aim of the project was to look for extraterrestrial intelligence. It relied on analysis of observed radio patterns to make conclusions. The funds for the project were raised privately.

Where the project took place.

It started in Australia where the Parkes Radio Telescope (the biggest telescope in southern hemisphere) is located. About 200 stars that cannot be viewed from the northern hemisphere telescopes were observed in sixteen weeks.

From the September of 1996 to April of 1998, the Phoenix project observed from USA at the National Radio astronomy located in Green Bank of Pocahontas county in West Virginia. Project phoenix made use of the antenna that was used in project Ozma by Frank Drake since it is just a short distance away. Phoenix made fifty percent use of the telescope and fifty percent use of the antennae over the period.

Project Phoenix shifted to Arebico in August of 1988. It utilized the largest telescope in the world, being able to observe two times in a year (three to four weeks each time) due to the telescope's high demand. To minimize the high radio interference in daytime, the Phoenix Project team carried out observations at night. This also minimized interference of each star's line of sight by the storms of solar wind.

How the Search took place.

Project Phoenix focused on observation of nearby stars using some of the world's most powerful telescopes that guaranteed high sensitivity to weak signals for any indications of communication technology. Stars in the microwave region that lies in the electromagnetic spectrum of 1200-3000 MHz were analyzed. To examine as many as possible channels in each target star, the spectrum was broken into narrow channels that were 1 Hz wide. The collected data was processed immediately and follow ups made on candidate signals. To eliminate most terrestrial interference, two telescopes that are far apart were used. The project involved monitoring of millions of channels concurrently which was performed by computers while the astronomers made key decisions about signals of interest.

The phoenix Project by SETI analyzed 800 stars that are within 240 light years comprehensively. It is the most successful project that SETI has undertaken to date. The Phoenix project did not find any Extra-Terrestrial (ET) signal hence concluding that was no life in the surrounding stars that were examined.