A

David

Darling

optical SETI at Harvard/Smithsonian

An optical SETI program, funded by the SETI Institute and the Planetary Society, and based at Harvard University and the Oak Ridge Observatory, is currently searching for artificial pulsed laser signals that might be coming from nearby Sunlike stars. The project uses a relatively simple, high-speed optical detector attached to Harvard's 15-centimeter (6-inch) optical telescope which is engaged in a continuing radial velocity survey of 2,500 solar-type stars conducted by David Latham and Robert Stefanik. The optical SETI "piggybacks" on this experiment, using about 25% of the light that is not used in the survey work.