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How Does Radio Astronomy Aid in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life?

-- | March 30, 2017

Question: Hi! I’m a screenwriting student and I’m currently working on developing a TV series concept that features radio astronomy as an element. I was wondering, was there anything that you could share regarding how radio astronomy aids in the search for extraterrestrial life? — Kristin

Answer: In fact, some of the earliest searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) used radio telescopes in their investigations. The best place to get a summary of how radio astronomy has been used as a tool in SETI research is the SETI Institute’s research summary page. As you can see from the information on that page, the “dawn” of SETI research was initiated using the tools of radio astronomy.

Jeff Mangum

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
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