Australia Joins The Hunt For Aliens With A Huge Dish Telescope

Scientists in Australia are aiming a huge dish telescope at Proxima Centauri, one of our close solar neighbors, joining the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.  Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star a mere 4.25 light years from us, where an Earth-like planet ― dubbed Proxima b ― is believed in orbit. Proxima b may have temperatures that could allow liquid water to exist there, scientists speculate.  The next logical jump is speculation that Proxima b may be habitable. The Parkes Radio Telescope (pictured below) in New South Wales will lend a hand, er, dish to the mix, scanning for radio frequencies that might originate from unknown civilizations in space, reports the Aussie Network News. This is Australia’s first collaboration with Breakthrough Listen, a 10-year, $100 million global effort to actively search for intelligent alien life, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization confirmed.  As reported by The New York Times, Breakthrough Listen was launched in 2015 by billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner. The project’s international supporters include renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, astronomer Frank Drake, who founded California’s SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Cambridge University’s Lord Martin Rees, and Ann Druyan, co-author of the “Cosmos” television programs and widow of astronomer Carl Sagan. “The addition of Parkes is an important milestone,&rdqu...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news