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Eight SETIzens gathered for the annual SETI Dinner at the October, 2011 International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. ZS6AKV photo

31 December 2011

Four SETI League members meet in Cape Town, South Africa in October, 2011, at the International Astronautical Congress. Left to right: Alex Antonites, Lori Walton, H. Paul Shuch, and Hans van de Groenendaal. ZS6AKV photo

24 December 2011

The side of the Moon that faces away from the Earth is an ideal location for a radio astronomical observatory, since it is shielded from electromagnetic interference emanating from our planet. SETI League members Claudio Maccone and H. Paul Shuch serve on a committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) that seeks to protect the lunar farside from future EM radiation. Richard Clar has produced this cover art for their Cosmic Study titled "Protected Antipode Circle on Lunar Farside." Its message is clear: no RF allowed here. Lunar image: NASA/GSFC Arizona State University Graphic design: Richard Clar - Art Technologies, Paris

17 December 2011

SETI League members H. Paul Shuch, Lori Walton, and Alex Antonites gathered at the Springer Publishing booth during the International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town in October. On display behind Dr. Shuch is his new book "Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence". N6TX photo

10 December 2011

Those attending Opening Ceremonies at the October, 2011 International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town were treated to a spectacular dance program, presented by local youth. N6TX photo

3 December 2011

One of the highlights of Opening Ceremonies at the October, 2011 International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town was a performance by the talented Soweto String Quartet. N6TX photo

26 November 2011

On behalf of his co-author Prof. Alexander Ollongren, Prof. Doug Vakoch presented a paper on interstellar message construction at last month's International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town. N6TX photo

19 November 2011

At the International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town last month, the annual Billingham Cutting Edge Lecture, titled "Expanding Human and Other Earth Life into the Universe," was delivered by Gen. Simon 'Pete' Worden, director of the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View CA (seen at left, with session chair Doug Vakoch). The award's namesake, Dr. John Billingham, spent much of his career at NASA Ames. N6TX photo

12 November 2011

At the International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town last month, Prof. Martin Dominik of St. Andrews University in Scotland presented the annual Rudolph Pesek Lecture, titled "Exploration Rather Than Speculation". N6TX photo

5 November 2011

A decade after they were planted, the forty tiny Arbor Vitae ringing The SETI League's Very Small Array have grown into mature trees, completely obscuring the dishes from view and placating concerned neighbors who prefer the wonders of nature to "the terrors of technology". N6TX photo

29 October 2011

When he's not busy running his business, or pursuing extraterrestrial intelligence, SETI League president Richard Factor stays active as radio amateur WA2IKL, chasing DX (distance communications). In early August he became one of the lucky DXers to make multiple contacts with a station in the Republic of South Sudan, when that newly independent country became an official "DXCC Entity." dxfriends.com image

22 October 2011

Last month Robert Jeffery, VK2BTJ, paid a visit to SETI League executive director emeritus H. Paul Shuch, N6TX, in Lock Haven, PA. Bob flew this lovely Piper Twin Comanche into the Piper Memorial Airport at the midpoint of his solo round-the-world trip. This was the plane's first look at its birthplace since it departed Lock Haven for Australia more than forty years ago. N6TX photo

15 October 2011

SETI League regional coordinators Alex Antonites and Lori Walton meet over a glass of fine South African wine, at last week's International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town. N6TX photo

8 October 2011

The International Academy of Astronautics 40th Symposium on SETI convenes this week in Cape Town, South Africa, in conjunction with the 62nd International Astronautical Congress. A number of SETI League members are scheduled to present papers. IAA image

1 October 2011

SETI League charter members Gay and Joe Haldeman with fellow physicist and author David Brin at the Renovation World Science Fiction Convention in Reno NV last month. Cheryl Brigham photo

24 September 2011

At the Renovation World Science Fiction Convention in Reno NV last month, SETI enthusiasts (l-r) David Brin, Greg Bear, and Greg Benford appeared together on the panel "Return of the Killer B's". Cheryl Brigham photo

17 September 2011

Science fiction author Greg Bear (left) and editor DongWon Song at last month's World Science Fiction Convention in Reno NV. Bear and his wife Astrid Anderson are SETI League charter members. Greg succeeded his father-in-law, the late Poul Anderson, on The SETI League's advisory board. Astrid Anderson Bear photo

10 September 2011

From the SETI Institute in California comes the good news that SETI observations will be resuming shortly from the Allen Telescope Array. See this Guest Editorial for details. Seth Shostak photo

3 September 2011

This year's International Astronautical Congress will commence in just one month, in scenic Cape Town, South Africa. A number of SETI League members are expected to participate. You can find out more about the IAC's upcoming SETI sessions at the IAA SETI Permanent Committee website. IAC photo

27 August 2011

Early last month, longtime member Earl Bennett made a SETI presentation to the Delaware Valley chapter of Mensa. Sitting behind the computer and assisting with the PowerPoint presentation is fellow SETI League member Michelle Baker. Earl Bennett photo

20 August 2011

Executive director emeritus H. Paul Shuch sings a song of SETI at the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers meeting in June. Montgomery News coverage of Dr. Shuch's talk is available here. Joe Barron photo

13 August 2011

Len Jensen, president of the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers, welcomes SETI League executive director emeritus H. Paul Shuch as guest speaker at the club's June meeting. Montgomery News coverage of Dr. Shuch's talk is available here. Joe Barron photo

6 August 2011

From the UK, Sean O'Doherty sends along this photo of his Drake Equation tattoo. He writes, "I just thought you might like to see a representation of my belief system. I hope you like it. I think it is a thing of beauty." Sean O'Doherty photo

30 July 2011

Dr. Claudio Maccone is seen at Parliament Palace (formerly known as Ceausescu's palace) in Bucharest, Romania, attending the 2nd IAA Planetary Defense Conference in May 2011. More information about this important conference may be found here. Anatoly Zaitsev photo

23 July 2011

Last week's Featured Photo showed the total lunar eclipse of 15 June 2011, as photographed in Frankfurt, Germany by Yasmin Walter. This week, we see the same eclipse, as viewed in Vadodara, India by Divyadarshan Purohit. Divyadarshan Purohit photo

16 July 2011

From Frankfurt, Germany, Yasmin Walter sends along another of her lovely lunar eclipse photos. She writes of the 15 June event: "After hours of waiting and bad weather forecasts, the cloudy sky slowly cleared and aside of about one hundred eclipse tourists, I discovered the dark brownish moon between the clouds with my binoculars. Whereas most regions in Germany were condemned to lie beneath dense clouds, we got a glimpse of the eclipsed moon. Photo details : Canon EOS 400, Tamron 400 mm, tele converter Solignor 1.6x." Yasmin Walter photo

9 July 2011

During the Zero Shadow Moment celebration at the SVP Planetarium in Vadodara, India last month (see last week's Featured Photo), shadows align directly beneath the vertical objects that would otherwise have cast them. This is the same phenomenon, observed at Syene, that led Eratosthenes to devise a method for measuring the Earth's circumference some 2300 years ago. Divyadarshan Purohit photo

2 July 2011

On two occasions every year, everywhere on Earth between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the Sun appears directly overhead. At these times, objects briefly cast no shadow. On 3 June 2011, local politicians, press, and members of the public gathered at the SVP Planetarium in Vadodara, India, for a Zero Shadow Moment celebration. Check next week's Featured Photo to (not) see the shadows being cast. Divyadarshan Purohit photo

25 June 2011

From Vadodara, India, amateur radio astronomer Divyadarshan Purohit sends along this picture of a peacock, India's national bird, eyeing the Gurudev Observatory's Radio Jove antenna. Peacocks are especially significant to The SETI League, since our All Sky Survey is named Project Argus, for the Greek guard beast who had 100 eyes and could see in all directions at once. Mythology tells us that when Argus died, the gods put his eyes on the tail of the peacock. Gurudev Observatory photo

18 June 2011

The new NASA book Cosmos & Culture, which touches on societal aspects of SETI, is reviewed here. It may be downloaded for free from http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf. NASA image

11 June 2011

The Photopic Sky Survey is a 5,000 megapixel photograph of the entire night sky stitched together from 37,440 exposures. Large in size and scope, it portrays a world far beyond the one beneath our feet and reveals our familiar Milky Way with unfamiliar clarity. Further images may be found at http://skysurvey.org/. Nick Risinger image from skysurvey.org

4 June 2011

At the 2011 Annual Meeting, executive director emeritus Dr. H. Paul Shuch shows off the newly published book from Springer Verlag, "Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence", which he edited, and to which many SETI League members contributed chapters. The book was recently reviewed in Astronomy Now magazine. SETI League photo

28 May 2011

In the SETI League office, secretary/treasurer Heather Wood displays the 2011 Giordano Bruno Memorial Award and Orville Greene Service Award plaques. Recipients of these honors were announced at the Annual Meeting, and reported in this Press Release. SETI League photo

21 May 2011

SETI League officers, re-elected for an additional one-year term at our Annual Meeting last month, include (left to right): executive director emeritus H. Paul Shuch, president Richard Factor, and secretary/treasurer A. Heather Wood. SETI League photo

14 May 2011

The 2011 Orville Greene Service Award, announced at last month's SETI League annual meeting, was awarded posthumously to Dr. Malcolm Raff, WA2UNP, for his fifteen years of leadership on the SETI League technical advisory board. Details appear in this press release. Mal is seen here assembling and testing a low-noise preamplifier at the SETICon03 technical symposium, eight years ago. N6TX photo

7 May 2011

The 2011 Giordano Bruno Memorial Award, announced at last week's SETI League annual meeting, went to Christian Monstein, HB9SCT, for his development of the CALLISTO global network of solar spectrometers. Details appear in this press release. Christian is seen here explaining his spectrometer design at the EuroSETI04 conference in Germany, seven years ago. N6TX photo

30 April 2011

At last year's 61st International Astronautical Congress in Prague, executive director emeritus H. Paul Shuch (right) had a chance to interact with two old friends, SETI scientists Ivan Almar from Budapest (left) and Stelio Mongebugnoli from Italy (center). This year's IAC will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, in October. N6TX photo

23 April 2011

In Michigan, Jim VanProoyen N8PQK has been duplicating the SETI Horn of Plenty antenna, for distribution to local schools interested in teaching radio astronomy. N8PQK photo

16 April 2011

Marcus Chown recently published his first interactive electronic book for the popular iPad tablet computer. Here is a sample page. See this review of his Solar System, available through iTunes. iPad screen shot

9 April 2011

This waterfall display produced by Peter Cheasley, VE3TPR, on 7 January 2011 at 3.5 GHz, shows a a highly coherent (narrow-band) signal with a Doppler curve typical of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. Such signals frequently plague Project Argus observers, because they are clearly of non-natural origin, but generally produced by human technology. VE3TPR image

2 April 2011

Two weeks ago, we posted here a Space Shuttle / ISS photo taken by Alan Friedman of Buffalo NY USA. Here is the solar telescope he used to produce that spectacular image. As Alan describes it: "My main solar imaging rig is named Little Big Man... it's the smallest 90mm hydrogen alpha telescope on the planet (I think!) It is shown here set up for high magnification shooting... from the front of the scope - 90mm Coronado Solarmax Ha filter with T-max tuner/ Astro-Physics 92mm f4.8 Stowaway - a very fine triplet apochramtic refractor/ Coronado BF30 blocking filter/ Baader FFC fluorite barlow/ extension tube/ Point Grey Research Scorpion camera/ firewire connection to my Mac laptop for image capture. Little Big Man is shown riding on my Astro-Physics 900 German equatorial mount." Copyright © Alan Friedman / avertedimagination.com, used by permission. Alan Friedman photo

26 March 2011

During his first ever visit to the UK last October to participate in the Royal Society SETI meetings, Alexander Zaitsev took a day off for tourism. A.L. Zaitsev photo

19 March 2011

On its last mission, the space shuttle Discovery, docked to the International Space Station, is seen here transiting the Sun on 1 March 2011. This spectacular photo was taken by Alan Friedman of Buffalo NY USA, with a 90mm hydrogen alpha telescope, from the Winter Star Party in Florida. Copyright © Alan Friedman / avertedimagination.com, used by permission. Alan Friedman photo

12 March 2011

Panelists at last October's Royal Society SETI meeting respond to audience questions at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, UK. A.L. Zaitsev photo

5 March 2011

Radio amateurs looking for our executive director on the air will find N6TX silent for now. Last week's heavy windstorms in the Northeastern US tore his Cushcraft R7 vertical antenna off its mount and sent it into the trees. Fortunately neither Paul's Project Argus station nor the Very Small Array sustained any damage. N6TX photo

26 February 2011

Participants in last October's Royal Society SETI meeting gather for dinner at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, UK. A.L. Zaitsev photo

19 February 2011

METI colleagues (left to right) Stephane Dumas, Alexander Zaitsev, and Seth Shostak discuss interstellar messaging during the Royal Society SETI meetings at the Kavli Centre in Milton Keynes, UK, last October. A.L. Zaitsev photo

12 February 2011

Retired career diplomat Michael Michaud relaxing between sessions during the Royal Society SETI meetings at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, UK, last October. A.L. Zaitsev photo

5 February 2011

Ivan Almar, father of the Rio and San Marino Scales, addressing the Royal Society SETI meeting at the Kavli Centre in Milton Keynes, UK, last October. A.L. Zaitsev photo

29 January 2011

Doug Vakoch (left) and Alexander Zaitsev discuss interstellar messaging over a meal last October, during SETI meetings at the Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, UK. A.L. Zaitsev photo

22 January 2011

The Kavli Royal Society International Centre in Milton Keynes, UK hosted members of the International Academy Of Astronautics for a SETI conference last October. A.L. Zaitsev photo

15 January 2011

F5PL's New Year greeting card features this photo of his 3.5 metre parabolic antenna. Bertrand has used this dish over the past five years to intercept signals from 18 different space probes. F5PL photo

8 January 2011

Academician Claudio Maccone, seen here lecturing at the 2009 International Astronautical Congress, was recently appointed to The SETI League's advisory board. See this press release for details. N6TX photo

1 January 2011

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