Optical SETI

In 2006, The Planetary Society unveiled the first All-Sky Optical SETI (OSETI) telescope. Funded by The Planetary Society and operated by a Harvard University team, it's completely dedicated to capturing that one pulse of light that might be a communication.

SETI Radio Searches

One faint signal from light-years away could prove we're not alone in this universe. The Planetary Society is committed to finding that signal -- tirelessly surveying the skies with our Southern SETI project and our Optical SETI Telescope. You can be a part of these projects and help us keep the search going.

SETI@home

SETI@home is the most successful public participation science project in history, and it is dedicated to searching for a signal from the stars. The Planetary Society made it all possible.

Optical SETI Gets a Major Upgrade

The Planetary Society Optical SETI Telescope in Harvard, Massachusetts just got a major upgrade of its electronics. The telescope, which has been operating the only all-sky optical SETI survey since its opening in 2006, is run by Harvard University Professor Paul Horowitz and his team. The telescope scans the sky every clear night with a 72-inch primary mirror, looking for laser pulses as short as one billionth of a second that could be transmitted by distant extraterrestrials. When observing, it has been able to process 1 terabit (trillion bits) of data every second, that’s as much as in all the books in print every second.

One Man's Quest for SETI's Most Promising Signal

A review of Robert H. Gray's "The Elusive Wow: Searching for Extraterrestrial intelligence."

The Quest for the "WOW!": one man's search for SETI's most promising signal

Optical SETI's Growing Capabilities

Astropulse: A Fresh Look at the Skies in Search of E.T.

SERENDIP Takes a Great Leap Forward

Quake Catcher Network: SETI@home Spinoff Tracks Earth-Shakers

From SETI@home to Hominid Fossils: Citizen Cyberscience Reshapes Research Landscape

Planetary System Detected Around SETI@home Target Star

Planetary Society's Optical SETI Telescope Offers Online View of Night sky

The Planetary Society's Optical SETI Telescope was built solely to search for possible light signals from alien civilizations. Located at Oak Ridge Observatory in Harvard, Massachusetts, it is the first dedicated Optical SETI telescope in the world. Its 72-inch primary mirror also makes it larger than any optical telescope in the U.S. east of the Mississippi river.