Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Radio Telescopes: In Search of ET's


When we mention about refracting telescope or any other astronomical telescope for that matter, we always think about how images from space such as that of the moon, planets, solar system and even far beyond can be clearly seen. And really a thousand times better than if you are going to use your naked eye.

Telescopes in fact are meant to study the universe and what it has been and become for billions of years. In fact, the images that you might have been observing from your peek through an observatory telescope are millions and millions, even billions of years old.

But what about the search for ET’s or aliens on outer space. Are telescopes also capable of finding or detecting any intelligent life that’s present anywhere in the universe? Surely your refractor or reflecting telescope is not equipped to find one even if you train it up the sky 24 hours a day.

Actually there is one that’s intended to look for ET’s – and this is the radio telescope. By the way, there is what we call SETI, the acronym for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This phrase was coined as the pursuit of scientists and astronomers to search for alien beings intensified.

There are some radio telescopes that exist with the main purpose of detecting and identifying alien life forms. Two of such scopes are the Allen Telescope, found in California and the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. Hopefully, with the sheer power of these telescopes working non-stop every minute of the year, success of finding a life form other than our own will become a reality.