Interstellar Communications

Dr. Ka Chun Yu
Curator of Space Science
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Astronomy Day, October 23, 2004
 SETI Optimism
1960s: SETI research by Sagan, Drake, Morrison, many
others
Realization:
Interstellar travel long and difficult
Interstellar communication far easier: fast and cheap
Drake Equation:

         

Total number of civilizations broadcasting now

rate of star formation in the Galaxy



fraction of stars with planets




number of Earth-like planets in habitable zone



probability of life arising on such a planet



probability that intelligent life evolves

duration of a broadcasting civilization

 SETI Optimism (cont)
Probabilities: Final probability «1 if many probabilities are
multiplied
Drake Equation parameters:
roughly 30 stars per year in Galaxy
somewhere 5–10% (?) based on exoplanet surveys

???


???


???
???
Drake Equation results:
Low end:  1 civilization (us!)
High end: 10 000 civilizations (!)

 SETI Searches
1960: First search: Project Ozma using 85-foot NRAO telescope
at Green Bank; searched for a signal at 21 cm from Tau Ceti and
Epsilon Eridani.
1960s—1970s: Many small searches by US and USSR teams.
1980s: NASA involved; JPL does sky survey; NASA Ames would
target 1000 stars.
1988: Federal funding started; observations begin in 1992.
1994: Congress cuts funding.
1994—present: SETI Institute uses private funding.
1996–present Project Phoenix searches 1000 stars; in the
northern and southern hemispheres.
2005–: Allen Telescope Array: array of 350 6 meter dishes,
sensitive up to 100,000 or 1 million stars.
 Unintentional Radio Transmissions

Total Power Consumption on Earth:

Consumption per person  100 Watts

11
6 000 000 000 persons
    6 10 Watts

Radio “Leakage:”

8
TV and FM radio stations 

10 Watts
8
Military radars 

10 Watts
8
Total Leakage 10 Watts

 Unintentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)

Flux Detected at Interstellar Distances:

Power Transmitted
Flux
4 Distance2


For  30 light years:

108 Watts


4 3 1019 cm 2
 10 28 Watts per square meter
 0 01 Jansky

26
with 1 Jansky = 1 Jy = 10 Watts per square meter.

Radio telescopes today are sensitive down to

0.0001 Jy!
The Earth is detectable out to 300 light years!
 Unintentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)

How Long Is a Civilization Expected to “Leak?”

Best guess (?) values:

 30 stars per year

 0 10

0 50



 0 50

 0 10

 100 years

 30 0 10

0 50
0 50

0 10

100
 7 5 civilizations



 Unintentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)

Distance to Nearest Civilization

Diameter of Galaxy
civilization 

Number of civilizations
100 000 light years


75

 36 000 light years



Detected power:
Transmitted power Collector Area
4 Distance2
Arecibo Radiotelescope (300 meter antenna) can detect
10 30 Watts per squared meter, or a 108 Watt leakage signal out to

300 light years.

However a 36 kilometer radio dish necessary for
36,000 light year signal!
 Intentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)

Message beamed from Arecibo to M13, 1974

21,000 light years away.

20 terawatt transmission.
100,000 stars.
 Intentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)

Microwave Windows . . . the “Water Hole”

 Intentional Radio Transmissions (cont.)
“Magic Frequencies:” 21 cm line of Hydrogen (1.420 GHz),
18 cm line of Hydroxyl (1.667 GHz)
Constant Value Freq. based on Freq. based on
H Line (GHz) OH Line (GHz)
1 2 0
5 0
710202876 0
833679
 6 0
523598776 0
743722712 0
873027
proton/neutron 0
998623479 1
418450532 1
665063
Neutron/proton 1
001378419 1
422363665 1
669656
2 1
414213562 2
008757077 2
358000
 2 1
570796327 2
231168136 2
619080
Golden mean  5  1  2 1
618033989 2
298264783 2
697842
3 1
732050808 2
460214928 2
887949
Deuterium/hydrogen 1
999007511 2
839401764 3
333061
2 2 2
840811502 3
334716
5 2
236067977 3
176123815 3
728326
Feigenbaum  2
502907875 3
555144740 4
173243
Euler’s number  2
718281828 3
861063142 4
532350
 3
141592654 4
462336273 5
238160
Helium/hydrogen 3
972599637 5
642703371 6
623746
4 3 4
188790205 5
949781697 6
984213
Feigenbaum  4
669201609 6
632160818 7
785231
2 6
283185307 8
924672545 10
47632
 2
7
389056099 10
49545778 12
32020
  8
539734223 12
12988760 14
23879
 2
9
869604401 14
01884285 16
45616
Carbon/hydrogen 11
91331331 16
92173874 19
86376
4 12
56637061 17
84934509 20
95264

15
15426224 21
52520124 25
26758
 Optical SETI (OSETI)

1961: First OSETI paper by Robert Schwartz and Charles

Townes.
1960s: milliwatt lasers.
1980s–1990s: megawatt lasers.
Today, National Ignition Facility: 500 terawatt laser, 3–5
nanosecond pulse.

18
Advanced civilization with 10 Watt lasers?
Laser emits over narrow frequency; but total beamed
power might outshine parent star for a few nanoseconds!
May not need narrowband detector; use small
telescopes?!
 Inscribed Messages
(Christopher Rose & Gregory Wright, 2 September 2004, Nature, vol. 431, pp. 47-49)

Radio beams spread out as they travel through space; energy

wasted
“Message probes” not diluted; greater information density
More energy-efficient than beamed transmissions for information
dense messages
19
Total Information on Earth 10 bits
18

10 bytes

1 exabyte
Use scanning tunnelling microscopy to write data by moving
individual atoms!

1022 bits per kilogram

comparable to genetic density of 1024 bits per kilogram.
Even with 100 redundancy and shielding, much more energy


efficient!
 Fermi Paradox
Suppose:
An alien race takes 100 years to travel to another star.
Colonies send out expeditions after 1000 years.
Galaxy should be colonized in several 100 million
years!

If the galaxy is teeming with life, and they

are able to colonize other planets, where
are the aliens?
 Is Intelligent Life Rare?
Peter Ward & Donald Brownlee, Rare Earth, 2004

Modified Drake Equation:

          

        
where

stars in the Milky Way
 fraction of stars with planets
 fraction of metal-rich planets
  planets in a star’s habitable zone
  stars in the Galactic habitable zone
fraction of habitable planets where life arises

fraction of planets with life where complex metazoans arise
 fraction of lifetime of planet with complex metazoans
 fraction of planets with a large moon
 fraction of solar systems with Jupiter-sized planets
  fraction of planets with critically low number of extinction events