When E.T. told Elliott he wanted to phone home, he never mentioned he'd give him -- or anyone else -- a ring once he got there.
But that hasn't slowed a growing audience of nearly 350,000 volunteers from listening and looking for a message from him -- or any of his relatives who care to call.Started just two-and-a-half weeks ago, SETI@home allows computer users to download a program that its originators hope will aid them in answering the question, "Are we alone in the universe?"
SETI, or Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, an organization that's been attempting to answer this question since 1959, has launched SETI@home as the latest development in its search.
This program allows volunteers to download a program -- working as a screensaver -- which analyzes chunks of data from the world's largest radio telescope, located at Arecibo in Puerto Rico. While computers are idle, the SETI@home software takes over and begins analyzing data in search of strong spikes or repetitive patterns in radio signals from space.
Since its inception, the response to the program has been enormous. Dan Werthimer, SETI@home project scientist, continually receives thousands of e-mails from more than 200 countries inquiring about it.
"I've read e-mails from people in their 80s on down to 6-year-old kids," Werthimer said. "A lot of people just want to help out, but many want to know if there are others out there."
"This is the largest distributed computer ever," adds Clark Timmins, a new SETI@home user. "It involves tens of thousands of people at work and at school and at home, and they're all coming together on this huge project to try and research this."
While working through the chunk of data (averaging around 350K), the screensaver displays a three-dimensional graph charting three areas:
What you, as a user, have analyzed thus far.
The process it is currently doing.
The spectrum of the frequency it is analyzing.
Afterward, it tells you the most interesting things you've found.
Once the data has been completed, it's sent back to SETI@home scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, where it grabs and sends out another chunk of data. The analyzed data is then reanalyzed. In this second phase, they look for instances, several months apart, when two similar things have happened in the sky.
"Specifically, we're looking for narrow-band signals concentrated at one frequency, or evidence of the technological origin of the signal," according to project director David Anderson. "While the probability is small that we'll find anything, it's not zero. It's worth experimenting with."
Though chances are small that any aliens will be immediately found, optimism remains high.
"It's safe to say that I will be very surprised if anybody finds anything out right away, but I will be very surprised as well if we don't find something out eventually, which could be years," said Hansen Planetarium's Patrick Wiggins.
"I personally think the universe has a lot of life," Wiggins said, "and I'm hoping to hear something. I'm actually more hoping they'll land, but that's another story."
"Earthlings are an emerging civilization," said Werthimer. "I can guarantee our universe is teeming with life. Now, whether we can find it remains to be seen."
"I'm certain there is life out there, though it may take another century or more to find that out," said Anderson.
SETI@home continues to grow rapidly, by 10,000-20,000 users a day. They've been receiving nearly 100,000 chunks of processed data every one or two days, having worked through 1,650 years of research at press time.
"In one week, we've used over a millennium of computer time," Anderson said. "If we'd tried to do this on one computer by ourselves, it would have taken over 1,600 years."
Listed as part of a two-year experiment, SETI@home's directors will launch a second generation of related programs if it is a success. These will allow for even more thorough searches as technology continues to advance. SETI@home is so new, it is difficult to anticipate the results it will bring about.
"Right now our goal is to keep up with this," said Anderson. "We would count it a success if we are able to keep this running and keep interest high."
"We say it's hard looking for a needle in a haystack," said Werthimer. "Right now, I'd say we're looking at the corners of the haystack.
"In 20 years, we haven't bagged a single alien and we've only been going at it for two-and-a-half weeks, so it's going to take a while."
The inspiration for this project was sparked by the 25th anniversary of the Apollo program, according to Anderson.
There isn't much money in the SETI@home program since the government cut off its funding, which is why it relies on volunteers. (Some private companies have also donated computers.)
SETI@home can be downloaded at setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu and should run on all Windows, Macintosh and Unix computers.