◈ Homepage — http://seti.berkeley.edu/BERKELEY SETI RESEARCH CENTER BREAKTHROUGH LISTEN SETI@HOME OTHER PROJECTS SOCIAL ABOUT Berkeley SETI The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence At UC Berkeley Berkeley SETI Research Center conducts experiments searching for electromagnetic signatures of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light. We're the creators of the SETI@home volunteer computing software, that utilizes spare resources on volunteer computers to aid in processing data from radio telescopes. And we're excited to be participating in the new Breakthrough Listen initiative to use the Green Bank, Parkes, and Automated Planet Finder telescopes to dramatically expand the search for cosmic company. SETI@home Join the search by harnessing your computer's spare processing power Breakthrough Listen Sponsors of the most comprehensive search ever for extraterrestrial civilizations Social Media Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky ◈ Interior Pages — 13 pages crawledBerkeley SETI Berkeley SETI The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence At UC Berkeley Berkeley SETI Research Center conducts experiments searching for electromagnetic signatures of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light. We're the creators of the SETI@home volunteer computing software, that utilizes spare resources on volunteer computers to aid in processing data from radio telescopes. And we're excited to be participating in the new Breakthrough Listen initiative to use the Green Bank, Parkes, and Automated Planet Finder telescopes to dramatically expand the search for cosmic company. SETI@home Join the search by harnessing your computer's spare processing power Breakthrough Listen Sponsors of the most comprehensive search ever for extraterrestrial civilizations Social Media Visit Download Page --> Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI Berkeley SETI The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence At UC Berkeley Berkeley SETI Research Center conducts experiments searching for electromagnetic signatures of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light. We're the creators of the SETI@home volunteer computing software, that utilizes spare resources on volunteer computers to aid in processing data from radio telescopes. And we're excited to be participating in the new Breakthrough Listen initiative to use the Green Bank, Parkes, and Automated Planet Finder telescopes to dramatically expand the search for cosmic company. SETI@home Join the search by harnessing your computer's spare processing power Breakthrough Listen Sponsors of the most comprehensive search ever for extraterrestrial civilizations Social Media Visit Download Page --> Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI SERENDIP Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations One of our projects SERENDIP is an acronym for “Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations”, and like SETI@home, SERENDIP searches the radio band for potential signatures of ETI. Although SERENDIP does not analyze data to the same level of detail as the computing power of SETI@home allows, it scans a broader range of frequencies. The data used in SERENDIP are currently taken using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. --> Additional information on SERENDIP and SERENDIP V.v: Planetary Society's excellent article on SETI@home and SERENDIP V.v. CASPER's technical description of the SERENDIP V.v instrument system. Jeff Cobb et al. 1996 SIREN Conference Paper on SERENDIP IV. Jeff Cobb et al. SERENDIP IV Data Acquisition Reduction and Analysis Paper. Dan Werthimer et al. "The BERKELEY SETI Program, SERENDIP III and IV Instrumentation" Progress in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, ASP Conference Series 1995 Dan Werthimer et al. "The SERENDIP II Design" IAU Conference Proceedings, 1985. Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI Contact Berkeley SETI For general questions about astronomy, check out UC Berkeley's "Ask an Astronomer" page. For frequently asked questions about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, visit our FAQ . For questions about SETI@home, you can use the secure message system . And for media inquiries, donation questions, and scientific collaborations, email us at [email protected] . Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI Support Our Search Support UC Berkeley's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Berkeley SETI Research Center welcomes your donations to support our research, our students, and our outreach projects. The majority of our funding comes from private donations. Some of this funding is earmarked for particular projects, so we are still very much in need of donations to support programs like SETI@home, our student internships, and other critical components of our work. If you would like to donate to the general fund at Berkeley SETI Research Center, in support of research, students, outreach, and other activities, you can do so here . If you would prefer to designate your gift specifically for the SETI@home project, donation details may be found here . We are extremely grateful to all of our supporters and sponsors, and your help in driving forward the search for intelligent life beyond Earth! If you would like to discuss a legacy or other major donation, please contact our administrator Barb Hoversten, [email protected] Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by US Law. Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI Intern with Breakthrough Listen Breakthrough Listen Summer Undergraduate Research Internships Applications for summer 2026 positions are now closed. Please check back in December for details of next summer's program. “As close to a perfect summer internship as you can get.” “Had a profound impact on my academic trajectory.” “The best overall professional experience I've had to date. The quality of the training and mentorship was great. It was the best-organized internship I've had too, and the best social experience I've had in an internship.” “I would not be where I am, or who I am, today without my experiences working with the Breakthrough Listen team.” Program Overview Current undergraduates are invited to apply for research internship positions with the Breakthrough Listen project. Breakthrough Listen is the world's most comprehensive, intensive, and sensitive search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We seek a scientific answer to one of humanity’s oldest questions: Are we alone in the Universe? Our scientists and engineers are pioneers in the development of software, instrumentation, and science strategy for the search for intelligent life on other worlds. We have access to substantial amounts of time on the planet’s largest telescopes, and connections and collaborations with some of the leading players in the tech industry. We’re also psyched that we get to wake up each day and hunt for aliens. Summer interns work at the cutting edge of the search. If you are motivated, work well as a member of a team, and can take initiative and responsibility for your own work, you’ll fit in well in our group. Interns have gone on to graduate school at UC Berkeley, Caltech, Columbia, Cambridge, Oxford, and many other prestigious institutions, in addition to careers at Facebook, Google, and other leading companies. Example Projects The list of available projects changes from year to year. Students are paired with mentors based on their interests and skillset. If there are particular areas of our research portfolio that interest you (you may want to check out some recent papers or press releases mentioning Breakthrough Listen), we'd like to hear about them in your application. Some example projects from previous years include: The Weirdest Stars on the Sky: A Multiband Follow-up - Lana Tilke (Connecticut College) Lana worked with Dr. Ann Marie Cody to search for indications of engineered megastructures around stars. Applying machine learning techniques to data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, Lana explored a huge set of archival lightcurves to find anomalies which could be technosignature candidates or signs of interesting astrophysics. Lana received a 2022 SETI Forward award in recognition of her research, and is now studying for a PhD in Astrophysics at Arizona State University. A Search for ETI around Proxima Centauri - Shane Smith (Hillsdale College) Shane worked with Dr. Danny Price and Dr. Sofia Sheikh (also one of our former summer interns!) to search for radio technosignatures in data from the Parkes radio telescope. Although he didn't find ET, he did get a first-author article in the prestigious Nature Astronomy journal and coverage in the New York Times, Scientific American, National Geographic, and elsewhere. Shane is now an engineer at the Aerospace Corporation. Radio Technosignature Searches of Nearby Galaxies - Carmen Choza (University of Chicago) Carmen worked with Dr. Steve Croft to search for radio technosignatures in a sample of 100 nearby galaxies observed with the Green Bank Telescope. This is one of the major components of the Breakthrough Listen program as announced at the Royal Society in London in 2015. Carmen's first-author paper presenting the analysis of this huge observational dataset was published in the Astronomical Journal, accompanied by a press release. Carmen is now studying for a SETI-related PhD at the University of Oxford. Other interns have written high performance computing pipelines for the MeerKAT telescope, developed a citizen science platform for technosignature searches in collaboration with Zooniverse at Oxford University, searched for fast radio bursts, looked for laser signals in spectra from the Automated Planet Finder telescope, simulated populations of Doppler drifting signals from the known properties of exoplanetary systems, and much more! Application Details For 2026, we are offering internships in the USA, Ireland, UK, and Italy. We are unable to sponsor visas so please carefully read the eligibility criteria below for the country for which you are applying. Women and nonbinary students, underrepresented minorities, transfer students, and others traditionally underrepresented in science are strongly encouraged to apply. The majority of our projects make heavy use of modern programming languages and tools. While we don’t expect applicants to be experts in all of these areas, familiarity and experience with one or more of Python / Jupyter, version control (e.g. git / github), database software (e.g. MySQL), visualization tools (e.g. Bokeh, D3, etc.), GPU programming, interface design, machine learning, cloud computing, Unix / Linux scripting, and / or public outreach will make for a strong application. Prior astronomy research experience is not a prerequisite, although if you have knowledge or experience of observational astronomy (optical, radio, or other wavebands), signal processing, and / or data reduction we would like to hear about that in your application. We'll also train you up on GNU Radio and you'll have the opportunity to operate some of the planet's most powerful radio telescopes - again, no prior experience is required, but we would like to hear about it if you have any. If you are eligible for more than one of the international programs (please carefully note citizenship requirements) feel free to complete more than one of the relevant application forms. If you're only eligible for one site, please make sure you fill out the correct form! If you've thoroughly reviewed the instructions here and still have questions, feel free to email us at [email protected]. Opportunities in the USA Our US program takes place in person at UC Berkeley. Current sophomore, junior, and senior undergraduates (at the time of application) are eligible. The program is open to US citizens, legal permanent residents ("green card" holders), and non-citizens who are already enrolled at degree-granting institutions in the United States (e.g. F1 visa holders, DACA recipients). We cannot sponsor visas for other international students - if you don't already fall into one of the above categories, please don't apply. Here’s what you’ll need to apply: A recent transcript (unofficial is fine) A CV A letter of recommendation from a faculty member, researcher, or other academic mentor. Please note that only one letter is requested - subsequent letters will be discarded and do not improve your chances of selection. A cover letter, which should include details of What specifically interests you about SETI, our research, and the program Your programming experience (including projects worked on) Any prior research experience Any other relevant information By applying, you commit to being available for 40 hours of work per week (June 8 – August 14, 2026). You’ll be expected to work closely with other interns, to consult with our researchers as necessary, and to attend weekly meetings and lectures. The week of June 8 - 12 will consist of an intensive week of preparatory lectures, and the remainder of the summer will consist of independent research. You’ll be expected to keep notes on your progress, to check your code in frequently to github, and to keep in touch with us on our Slack account. A stipend of $12,538 is provided, which is intended to cover all of your expenses during the program including meals and accommodation. Additionally, travel costs to and from the program site will be reimbursed - instr Berkeley SETI Breakthrough Listen at UC Berkeley Page 1 Next Page ABOUT US What we're searching for Berkeley SETI Research Center scientists and engineers are working with Breakthrough Listen to make data from Breakthrough available to the public, and you can choose a level of participation that matches your interest and abilities. Breakthrough data from the Green Bank Telescope are now flowing to SETI@home, and everyone can help out with the analysis! SETI@home is one of the world's largest citizen science projects, and enables users to donate a portion of their home computers' resources to aiding in our data analysis. We'd also like for you to get more involved, either by engaging with us on social media, reading more about the science and engineering aspects of our work, or even getting hands on with Breakthrough Listen public data. Data from the Automated Planet Finder and the Green Bank Telescope are flowing into the Breakthrough Listen public archive, but the data volumes are large, and the data are stored in formats that require specialized tools even to view, never mind to analyze. But if you are interested in learning more, please read through the following pages. The content will get more technical the further you go, but if you have the interest and time we hope you'll enjoy learning a little more about the tools we use to search for intelligent life beyond Earth. Our Telescopes How we're searching Breakthrough Listen is taking data with the Green Bank Telescope (the world’s largest steerable radio telescope), the Parkes radio telescope in Australia, and the Automated Planet Finder (a robotic optical telescope equipped with cutting edge spectrograph technology). As of today, we’ll be sharing our data from these telescopes with you, the public. These links below contain spreadsheets listing astronomical objects already observed by the GBT and APF, as well as objects that will be observed in future. A more detailed description of our target selection is here . Observing Progress: Green Bank Observing Progress: Parkes Observing Progress: Automated Planet Finder Read On Explore the techniques we use to look for signatures of extraterrestrial intelligence Continue to Page 2 Social Keep in Touch With Us Tweets by @setiathome --> Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky, Starmap: Nathaniel Adams Breakthrough Listen is managed by the Breakthrough Initiatives, sponsored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. Berkeley SETI Breakthrough Listen at UC Berkeley Page 1 Next Page ABOUT US What we're searching for Berkeley SETI Research Center scientists and engineers are working with Breakthrough Listen to make data from Breakthrough available to the public, and you can choose a level of participation that matches your interest and abilities. Breakthrough data from the Green Bank Telescope are now flowing to SETI@home, and everyone can help out with the analysis! SETI@home is one of the world's largest citizen science projects, and enables users to donate a portion of their home computers' resources to aiding in our data analysis. We'd also like for you to get more involved, either by engaging with us on social media, reading more about the science and engineering aspects of our work, or even getting hands on with Breakthrough Listen public data. Data from the Automated Planet Finder and the Green Bank Telescope are flowing into the Breakthrough Listen public archive, but the data volumes are large, and the data are stored in formats that require specialized tools even to view, never mind to analyze. But if you are interested in learning more, please read through the following pages. The content will get more technical the further you go, but if you have the interest and time we hope you'll enjoy learning a little more about the tools we use to search for intelligent life beyond Earth. Our Telescopes How we're searching Breakthrough Listen is taking data with the Green Bank Telescope (the world’s largest steerable radio telescope), the Parkes radio telescope in Australia, and the Automated Planet Finder (a robotic optical telescope equipped with cutting edge spectrograph technology). As of today, we’ll be sharing our data from these telescopes with you, the public. These links below contain spreadsheets listing astronomical objects already observed by the GBT and APF, as well as objects that will be observed in future. A more detailed description of our target selection is here . Observing Progress: Green Bank Observing Progress: Parkes Observing Progress: Automated Planet Finder Read On Explore the techniques we use to look for signatures of extraterrestrial intelligence Continue to Page 2 Social Keep in Touch With Us Tweets by @setiathome --> Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky, Starmap: Nathaniel Adams Breakthrough Listen is managed by the Breakthrough Initiatives, sponsored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. Berkeley SETI Work With Us Jobs, volunteer opportunities, and collaboration with Berkeley SETI BSRC comprises a diverse team of volunteers, students, engineers, researchers and faculty. Many of our programs involve collaborations between academia and industry from across the globe. We also have a thriving undergraduate internship program. If you don't fit into any of the categories below, you can still engage with us by following us on Facebook , Twitter , YouTube , and Instagram , checking out some of the educational material at seti.berkeley.edu , and if you have some computer programming skills, downloading and analyzing some of our public data. Current UC Berkeley Undergraduate Students Work study We usually have openings each semester for current UC Berkeley students who are work-study qualified, as listed on the work-study website . In particular we are seeking students to operate the Green Bank and Parkes Telescopes. These positions pay $13 per hour, for up to 20 hours per week. Logging in either from our comfortable remote observing facility in Campbell Hall, or from your own computer, you will be responsible for ensuring observations proceed successfully and for alerting other members of the team in case of problems. Observing sessions may be scheduled at any hour of the day or night with only 24 - 48 hours of notice. Observing assistants work as a team, reporting to our Observation Coordinator, to ensure that each slot is covered. Typically, sessions are uneventful, allowing the operator to spend around 30 - 60 minutes of a six hour slot actively configuring the observations, and the remainder of the time simply keeping an eye on things. So long as you remain alert for problems, light multitasking on other projects of your choice should be be possible during sessions where no major problems arise. Please submit your CV, and a cover letter summarizing your interest in and qualifications for this position. Qualifications Familiarity with Unix / Linux, including logging in to remote machines with ssh and vnc, shell commands, and basic shell scripting. Excellent written and oral communication skills, and the ability to work as part of a fast-paced team on time-critical tasks. Reliability, punctuality, and the ability to stay alert and undistracted are absolutely essential. You should be a quick learner, able to think on your feet, and with an excellent eye for detail. Basic familiarity with observational astronomy would be helpful but is not required (note that if you don’t already know what RA, Dec, J2000, pulsar, quasar and KIC 8462852 mean, you soon will!). You should be willing to work some nights, weekends, and holidays. To apply, please visit the work-study website , or contact [email protected] with any questions. Undergrad Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) Unpaid research internships are available for current UC Berkeley students during the fall and spring semesters. Interns earn 1 unit of academic credit for each 3 hours of research work (limited to 4 units per term). The deadline for applications is usually on Tuesday of the second week of classes. Interns perform research under the supervision of Breakthrough Listen Faculty Liaison, Prof. Imke De Pater, typically also collaborating with one of the research scientists or engineers on the Breakthrough Listen team. Students may also apply through the BIDS URAP program. The majority of our projects make heavy use of modern programming languages and tools. While we don’t expect applicants to be experts in all of these areas, familiarity and experience with one or more of Python / Jupyter, version control (e.g. git / github), database software (e.g. MySQL), visualization tools (e.g. Bokeh, D3, etc.), GPU programming, visualization, interface design, machine-learning environments, cloud computing, Unix / Linux scripting, full stack web development, and / or public outreach will make for a strong application. Prior astronomy research experience is not a prerequisite, although if you have knowledge or experience of positional astronomy, observational astronomy, radio astronomy, signal processing, and / or data reduction we would like to hear about that in your application. We'll also train you to operate some of the planet's largest radio telescopes (Green Bank and Parkes) - again, no prior experience is required, but we would like to hear about it if you have any. Please contact [email protected] with any questions. Paid internships Students who have already interned with us for a minimum of one semester, or who have participated in our summer internship program, may apply for paid internships for the following semester, or alternatively may apply to continue research for class credit. Our paid summer internship program is also open to current UC Berkeley students - please see details below. Current undergraduates across the US (including UCB) Current sophomore, junior, and senior (at the time of application) undergraduates studying at universities across the US (including UC Berkeley) are invited to apply for paid, 10-week summer internship positions. Applications open in December, with a deadline in February, for admission in June. Please see our summer internship page for details. These programs are open to US citizens and foreign nationals registered at undergraduate institutions in the US. We currently can't take students from outside the US for summer internships due to the expense and staff time involved in preparing visa applications. However, we encourage students across the world to engage with our instructional materials ; if you make progress on research projects involving our public data and code, we would love to hear from you. Graduate students We welcome involvement of graduate students in our research. Our unprecedented access to the world's most powerful telescopes, huge data archives, cutting-edge science program (including development of both classical and machine-learning algorithms to identify signals of interest), and the range of experience of experts on our team, make for exciting opportunities for discovery. Current UC Berkeley graduate students in astronomy, EECS, and related fields are invited to contact us to discuss possible thesis topics. Graduate students outside UC Berkeley who wish to incorporate Breakthrough Listen data in their research should approach their faculty advisor at their home institution in the first instance, and then send us an email ([email protected]) with a brief outline of their planned project to set up a call to discuss further. Academics Telescope time Time on the Breakthrough Listen backend on the Green Bank Telescope is available on a shared-risk basis (through application for the general pool of time on GBT via the Time Allocation Committee), and we plan to make the Parkes backend available on a similar basis. Please see the GBT shared risk webpage for details and contact us with any questions Visiting scholars We have a lively program of academic visitors to the Breakthrough Listen Lab in the Astronomy Department at UC Berkeley. If you are interested in giving a research seminar on a topic relevant to SETI research, spending a few days here for a collaborative visit, or spending a sabbatical working with us, please drop us a line ([email protected]) with an outline of your proposed talk or research topic. In some circumstances travel support may be available. Industry We face some challenging signal processing problems on petascale datasets as part of our work, and we are interested in drawing on the expertise of people working in industry with relevant experience. In particular, if you are an expert in machine learning, image processing, modulation classification, signal processing, or big data analytics, please take a look at our "how to find ET" document to get an idea of some of the challenges we are addressing, and feel free to drop us a line ([email protected]). If you are an experienced full stack web developer with a Berkeley SETI Berkeley SETI The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence At UC Berkeley Berkeley SETI Research Center conducts experiments searching for electromagnetic signatures of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light. We're the creators of the SETI@home volunteer computing software, that utilizes spare resources on volunteer computers to aid in processing data from radio telescopes. And we're excited to be participating in the new Breakthrough Listen initiative to use the Green Bank, Parkes, and Automated Planet Finder telescopes to dramatically expand the search for cosmic company. SETI@home Join the search by harnessing your computer's spare processing power Breakthrough Listen Sponsors of the most comprehensive search ever for extraterrestrial civilizations Social Media Visit Download Page --> Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI Frequently Asked Questions FAQ Directory The Search in General What is SETI? How did SETI start? What is the difference between SETI, the SETI Institute, and Berkeley SETI Research Center? What is Active SETI or METI? Why radio waves? Why are we searching?? Has anything been found? If there are other intelligent life forms out there, why haven’t we seen any? Berkeley and SETI How is UC Berkeley involved in SETI? Who is involved in the Berkeley team? What telescopes does Berkeley's SETI team use? How do Berkeley SETI researches search for ET? Do you have publications available to the general public? to students? to researchers? Other Research and Agencies Are other Universities involved in SETI too? How is the Kepler project related to SETI, and Berkeley’s team in particular? Is NASA involved in SETI? What about other government space agencies? How can I get involved in the search? The Search in General What is SETI? SETI stands for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. It is an interdisciplinary scientific effort to try to detect electromagnetic signals that are indicative of intelligent life. By this we mean that the signals (radio waves, visible waves such as laser signals, infrared waves, microwaves) are not those one would detect from the regular cosmic background “noise”, but rather, these signals are EM waves that are constructed, or similar to those created by human beings. They are manipulated in such a way that we can infer that some intelligent being(s) did such a manipulation. This is similar to the radio waves heading out into space from our tv networks, radio channels, etc. If other intelligent life exists, it might do something similar. Detecting and locating such signals would be strong evidence for intelligent life. How did SETI start? People have been wondering if we are alone ever since we realized that those bright dots in the sky are other stars similar to our Sun. The actual search for ETI commenced when our technology advanced enough to start searching. Modern SETI began with Cocconi and Morrison’s publication in Nature, “Searching for Interstellar Communications”. Published on Sept 19, 1959, it discussed a strategy for scanning nearby stars for non-natural microwave radiation. At around the same time, radio astronomer Frank Drake was about to perform the same experiment Cocconi and Morrison drafted: This was Project Ozma , the first SETI experiment conducted that gave way to further experiments and searches. The first SETI meeting was held by Drake in Green Bank in 1961. Here he wrote the famous Drake Equation , which spurred a search into figuring out the components that make up the equation, furthering the SETI aims. What is the difference between SETI, the SETI Institute, and Berkeley SETI Research Center? SETI is the search as a scientific practice ( see “What is SETI? ), while the SETI Institute is a private nonprofit corporation founded in 1984 dedicated to the SETI search, among other missions. The Institute works in SETI Research as well as other projects involving Astrobiology and Education and Public Outreach . The SETI Institute is independent of, but collaborates with, researchers here at the Berkeley SETI Research Center . What is Active SETI or METI? Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), also called Active Searches for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Active SETI), refers to the act of using high power communications equipment on Earth to transmit various messages to unknown extraterrestrial intelligences. The BSRC has never engaged in any activities involving intentional transmission of communication signals to advanced extraterrestrial life and has no intention to do so in the future. It is the position of the BSRC that intentional transmissions to known or unknown extraterrestrial intelligences should not be undertaken until such time that the world community has carefully considered the potentially enormous implications and consequences of such actions. Several scientists at the BSRC, along with others, have released a more detailed statement on this topic here . Why radio waves? Earth’s radio waves at certain times and frequencies outshine all other sources in the Solar System. The waves from our broadcasts leak outwards in a spherical shell. These could potentially be found by distant detectors. Since they travel at the fastest possible speed (the speed of light), it takes much less time to reach far distances than physical travel. If other intelligent civilizations have similar technologies, they too would leak out radio waves which we could then detect with our antennas. Why are we searching? Ever since we realized that there were other stars out in the universe, we have been haunted by the question of “Are we alone?”. Curiosity is a natural human driving force. Simply knowing if there are other intelligent beings out there is a major reason for searching. In the vastness of our universe, how could we not wonder if there are others like us that we could potentially communicate with? The only way to find out is conducting experiments and looking for that signal. SETI research also helps to develop new detector technologies, and provides valuable experience in digital hardware development and training in astronomy for students working with us. Has anything been found? No unambiguous signals from extraterrestrial intelligence have yet been found. Our main challenge is distinguishing candidate ETI signals from emission from natural sources, both terrestrial and astronomical. ETI signals must repeat in order to be confirmed. In previous years, SETI scientists found signals that were compatible with our expectations for ETI but did not repeat, or were later found to be interference from our own terrestrial technology. However, SETI has new experiments that capture a vast amount of more detailed data than previously, allowing us to confidently rule out terrestrial signals much faster. If there are other intelligent life forms out there, why haven’t we seen any? The lack of a signal does not rule out the existence of intelligent life forms in our Galaxy. There are many reasons why we might not even detect the signal. Limitations include the frequency coverage and sensitivity of our detectors, and the sheer vastness of the Galaxy. We might be receiving a signal, and not be tuned in to the right channel, or be looking in the right spot. The search is really just beginning; we have probed such a small region of the Galaxy that we can't yet make any strong statement about the prevalence of ETI. But a signal could come at any time, so it's important to keep surveying the sky! Berkeley and SETI How is UC Berkeley involved in SETI? We have several SETI programs operating at multiple wavelengths, from radio, through infrared, to visible light. These include SERENDIP , SEVENDIP , NIR-SETI and SETI@home . We are also involved in the development of new telescopes and instrumentation. Who is involved in the Berkeley team? Our team includes professors, researchers, graduate students, and undergrads. Here is some more information about some of our members. What telescopes does Berkeley's SETI team use? Our group uses data from a wide range of observatories to search for planets around other stars, and to scan the skies for signs of life: Arecibo Green Bank Telescope LOFAR Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) Keck Observatory Lick Observatory The Automated Planet Finder The European VLBI Network The main telescopes we use for our SETI searches are listed here . How do Berkeley SETI researchers search for ET? Researchers attempt to detect EM waves indicative of intelligent life ( see “What is SETI? ). These signals are likely very weak, so we use large radio telescopes to gather signals. Given that we do not know where the signals may come from, what frequency they might be at, or in what format (FM, AM, pulsing, etc), we need to search many channels and many locatio Berkeley SETI Berkeley SETI Research Center BSRC SETI@home About SETI@home Participate Message boards Get Help Statistics Your Account Other Projects SERENDIP AstroPulse Breakthrough Initiative Science of Breakthrough Listen Social Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram About Collaborators and Sponsors FAQ People Internships Contact Us Donate Participate Download BOINC and join the search A network of millions To do our research at Berkeley SETI, we collect signals from radio telescopes around the world, and analyze the signals for signs of intelligent life. And without needing any specialist knowledge, you can help us with our data analysis. To help our search, millions of people run a program called SETI@home which uses your computer when it's idle to process data and look for signals. SETI@home is run through BOINC, or the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Networked Computing, which is a piece of software we developed to help put people who want to donate their computer time in contact with researchers who need data analyzed. Getting started with BOINC To run SETI@home, you first need to download and install BOINC Download BOINC HERE BOINC allows you to connect to different research projects that you can donate computer time to. After you've downloaded BOINC, double click on it and follow the instructions to install the software. BOINC is supported on Windows and Mac, and there is a version for Android as well, available through the Google Play store. After you've installed BOINC, launch the software, and click "add project." This command is also available under the "Tools" menu. Once you've clicked "add project" a menu will appear with a list of projects you can partipate in. You can add as many as you like, but for now scroll down until you see "SETI@home." Click on SETI@home, and then click "next." You'll be asked to sign in or create a new account. This is to track your contribution to the project. Go ahead and make a new account, and then click "next." The project will pop up a website where you can change settings related to your account, but that's it! You've successfully added SETI@home. Now whenever you are away from your computer and it's sitting idle, it'll start to analyze data and help us search for ET. BOINC manages the projects, but your ID and stats with each project are tied to your account on that projects website. You can login to the SETI@home website to update your account information or change preferences. If you want to change when BOINC does work, or how much of your computer's resources it uses, you can change those settings from "Computing Preferences" under "Options." Other Ways to Participate Those with computer science, signal processing, machine learning, and big data skills may wish to download raw data from our telescopes and develop their own applications to work with these huge but exciting datasets. We've started to develop curriculum materials to enable those who wish to learn about our telescopes, instruments, and data, to acquire the skills to conduct their own analyses. You can read more about how to analyze data from the Breakthrough Listen project here. Help Us Analyze the Data! Download SETI@home Download SETI@home for Android Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky Berkeley SETI BSRC People But we are unanimous in our conviction that the only significant test of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is an experimental one. No a priori arguments on this subject can be compelling or should be used as a substitute for an observational program. -- Carl Sagan David Anderson BOINC Director, SETI@home Co-founder Jeff Cobb SETI Software Developer and Systems Manager Steve Croft Researcher / Outreach Specialist David DeBoer Breakthrough Listen Project Manager Julia DeMarines Breakthrough Listen Research Associate Vishal Gajjar Breakthrough Listen International Program Scientist Nectaria Gizani Visiting Scholar Jack Hickish Research Scientist Howard Isaacson Research Associate Eric Korpela SETI@home director Matt Lebofsky Breakthrough Listen Lead System Administrator David MacMahon Breakthrough Listen Chief Engineer Danny Price Research Fellow Breakthrough Listen Parkes Project Scientist Andrew Siemion Berkeley SETI Director Breakthrough Listen Principal Investigator Dan Werthimer Chief Technologist Website: Chris Schodt, Content: Steve Croft, Technical: Matt Lebofsky