Stephen Hawking’s project in search of E.T. gets boost from new technology

Image: Facebook/@stephenhawking by Jamie Travezan

One of the late Stephen Hawkings’ last projects was the search for intelligent life beyond our planet through Breakthrough Listen. This search received a boost on May 7 when new equipment was installed on the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope (“Parkes”) in New South Wales, Australia.

The upgrades to Parkes “multibeam receiver” allowed the telescope to scan a bigger portion of our Milky Way galaxy, according to a statement.

Scans from Parkes actually began in 2016, but were limited to star samples within just a few light-years of Earth. Despite the limitation, Parkes’ multi-beam receiver was still far more powerful than previous receivers used by Breakthrough Listen.

Thanks to the upgrades installed by scientists and engineers from the University of California Berkeley SETI Research Center (BSRC), the 13 beams projected by Parkes to scan the heavens now represent 100 million radio channels. This also happens to be the largest comprehensive SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) experiment to date.

The new view from Parkes includes not just a big part of the Milky Way but also a region of the Galactic Center. This seen part happens to be one of the densest parts of our galaxy. It has a supermassive blackhole surrounded by tens of millions of stars just a few light-years away from the center.

The new scanning equipment also helps to tune out signals coming form Earth.

This new survey to search for intelligent life in outer space has been planned to last for 1,500 hours, or around two months.  /ra

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