Optical SETI observatories in the new millennium: a review

Stuart A. Kingsley

doi:10.1117/12.435383

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3 August 2001 Optical SETI observatories in the new millennium: a review

Stuart A. Kingsley

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Proceedings Volume 4273, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum III; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.435383
Event: Photonics West 2001 - LASE, 2001, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

The Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is now 40 years old. However, it was only during the closing years of the 20th Century, after a 25-year hiatus, that the optical search has regained respectability in the SETI community at large. The quarter-of-a-century delay in American Optical SETI research was due to a historical accident and not for the lack of any enabling technology. This review paper describes aspects of past, present and future Optical SETI programs. Emphasis is placed on detecting fast, pulsed attention-getting laser beacon signals rather than monochromatic, continuous wave beacons. Some examples of commercial detection equipment that may be employed for either type of OSETI are given.

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Stuart A. Kingsley "Optical SETI observatories in the new millennium: a review", Proc. SPIE 4273, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum III, (3 August 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.435383

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