Archives 2022

It’s still Dec 13st here on the West Coast, and we’re hoping the New Year brings better luck and better skies for LaserSETI and a wonderful 2023 for each and every one of you!

We’ve had a lot of rain in California recently. I can’t remember the last clear night we’ve had. I was excited because the astronomer’s forecast was (and still is) good for tonight, but there must be valley fog or something else low in the sky that it’s blind to. The only photons making it to the instruments tonight are from our Sun, bounced off our lovely but obscured Moon.

And, you might’ve noticed, it’s been a long time since even the PiCams have updated from IFA on Haleakala in Maui. Almost two weeks ago now, there was a large ice storm which knocked out power. You can still see the frost on the instrument windows just before they went offline on the Status page. On Tuesday, we got power back, but only to find there was another internet cable cut somewhere halfway up the mountain, so we’re still without connectivity to the instruments.

It can be easy to get frustrated when things don’t go your way time after time, but I think that’s shows something special about the holiday season and New Years. Everyone wishes things were better, and that’s natural, that’s how we keep making progress. But we all have a million things to be grateful for, to appreciate how we got where we are and what or who is going to help us keep going tomorrow.

So let’s focus on what’s great in the world and in our lives, and leave some greatness to achieve in 2023!

Just because you’re in Hawaii, doesn’t mean it’s warm! We got our first frost of the season, after being socked in and unable to observe last night.

We can see effects of cooler temperatures in California, too. One of the camera’s in RFO2 is especially prone to being sticky when cold, but fortunately we now have software to handle it automatically.

Ideally, and with most of the other cameras, it takes only 3 attempts to open the shutter all the way 3 times in a row, but last night it took 9.

Yesterday, the SETI Institute hit its goal of raising $10,000 for our projects that search for life beyond Earth, succeeding on a challenge grant from long-time SETI Institute supporter Fritz Demopoulos. Now he has extended the September Challenge by $2,500!

There are only two days left to unlock a $12,500 gift for LaserSETI and its siblings. If you donate before Oct 1, your gift will go twice as far. A gift of any size helps the search!

LaserSETI would like the sympathize with all of the humans experiencing a heat wave today.

We spent a long time refining the thermal protection system for the instruments. Internal circulation, special heat-shedding paint, multiple exhaust fans, sunshades with embedded mirrors to reject even more heat. Days like today prove the value of that investment.

It’s 44 C (112 F) right now at Ferguson Observatory (RFO) and the cameras are the hottest I’ve ever seen them: 61 C (142 F)!

For comparison, the cameras on top of Haleakala, Maui (IFA) are a cool 16 C (61 F) right now.

My friend Laurance had some very touching and appropriate words on this sad day, and he agreed to let me share them here.

“I was very sorry to hear of Frank’s passing this morning. I could not help but think of the huge scientific legacy he has left.

His Drake Equation set the agenda for thousands of researchers to investigate all aspects of life in the universe. And he co-founded the SETI Institute which would become a world-class place to do this research. I spent my career researching up and down the Drake Equation, including 35 years at the SETI Institute (so far). When he retired from UC Santa Cruz, he asked me to teach his Life in the Universe class (which I did for seven years).

It would be difficult to overestimate his legacy in establishing the study of life in the universe and the search for it as a legitimate scientific field into which young scientists could do legitimate research.

It isn’t often that one gets to know someone who got there first – who was the first one to open up a wholly new field of science. But Frank certainly did that with quiet but definitive authority.

I’m sure that our own “L”, from the Drake Equation, was made longer by having had Frank grace our planet. Bending humankind’s thinking to consider our (and our planet’s) place in the universe is his legacy for the ages. It was a great honor to be around to see it all happen and to get to know Frank.”

Dr. Laurance R. Doyle 
Director, Quantum Astrophysics Group
Principal Investigator, Whale-SETI Project 
Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute 

On a personal note, I took that Life in the Universe class, and it definitely had an impact on me. It may be the class I remember best. It’s only today that I realize that it was his class, and the guest lecture he gave one day wasn’t a guest lecture. Now, if you do a search for it, the results are a long list of prestigious universities, teaching those who will listen to consider their place in the universe.

If you’re in the Bay Area and you like ice cream (and who doesn’t like ice cream??), then come by SETI HQ next weekend and see:

• Our new building, with all sorts of cool new decorations, displays, memorabilia, etc.
• Me, probably wearing my standard LaserSETI t-shirt
• A real LaserSETI camera
• Lots of awesome SETI Institute scientists and staff
• And meet other awesome regular people who like science!

Click here to register and learn more: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-seti-institute-ice-cream-social-tickets-388906147757

Since the launch of this website, we’ve had live images from all the cameras: science and internal “pi camera”. But it’s a lot easier to really understand and explore what the instruments are seeing when you can watch how things evolve across the whole night (or day). So, without further ado, please head on over to the Live Status page, and watch some of the movies!

There’s a subtle red line underneath each thumbnail to help indicate they’re clickable. Each one should be the last full day or night cycle. That is, if we’re observing, it’ll be last night’s movie, or during the day, it’ll be yesterday’s daylight hours.

For the first time in years, I took a trip to Maui where the primary reason was actually to have fun. But of course I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to visit LaserSETI! And my father-in-law was kind enough to come along for the ride and even give me a hand–literally and figuratively.

It’s always a pleasure, after long drive up the mountain as the last step of the journey, to climb the stairs of the Airglow Building and see the instruments, peacefully sitting amongst the incredible scenery.

The main bit of work we did, besides inspection and maintenance check, was to install a 19V step-up transformer, because we’ve found that the USB bus on this newer generation of NUC computers can be a little finnicky when supplied with 12V like everything else in the instrument. Since the science cameras and disk are connected via USB, any issues in that department are big issues.

Checking in on the air filters, it was clearly time to replace them. Apparently summer is a dusty time up there on the summit. These MERV 13 filters aren’t cheap, but they do a their job very well and have demonstrated a very reasonable operational life expectancy.

I recently returned from the “The First Annual Penn State SETI Symposium” which I have to say was both successful and enjoyable. Great topics and talks, diverse and smart attendees, and everywhere you looked people were collaborating and learning from each other.

I’m told videos of the presentations will be published on their site soon, and the posters are already accessible here.

There’s a great new article on SETI–and featuring LaserSETI–in the August issue of Sky and Telescope magazine.

I encourage you to pick it up and have a read!