NAI
2008 Annual Science Report
SETI Institute
Reporting | JUL 2007 – JUN 2008
Expanding the List of Target Stars for Next Generation SETI Searches
Project Summary
For decades the conventional wisdom considered M dwarf stars unsuitable hosts for habitable planets. We convened an interdisciplinary workshop of thirty scientists to reconsider the issue. They concluded that life could evolve on planets orbiting higher mass M dwarfs. This improves the prospects for finding extraterrestrial life since M dwarfs account for about 75% of all stars. Based on these results, we are preparing a list of more than a million “target” stars for a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project.
Project Progress
Peter Backus, Jill Tarter, Rocco Mancinelli- We are applying the results of our NAI workshop on the Habitability of Planets Orbiting M Stars as we compile a list of “target” stars for SETI on the Allen Telescope Array. Under our supervision, a student in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program is sifting through a catalogue of more than a billion stars. We will continue this work and refine the derived target list based on research published subsequent to the workshop. We will publish this new catalog of roughly a million “Habstars”, stars suitable to host habitable planets, extending the work of Turnbull and Tarter (2003a,b). This paper will include an update of the published conclusions of the workshop (Tarter, et al., 2007).Peter Backus, Jill Tarter, Rocco Mancinelli- We are applying the results of our NAI workshop on the Habitability of Planets Orbiting M Stars as we compile a list of “target” stars for SETI on the Allen Telescope Array. Under our supervision, a student in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program is sifting through a catalogue of more than a billion stars. We will continue this work and refine the derived target list based on research published subsequent to the workshop. We will publish this new catalog of roughly a million “Habstars”, stars suitable to host habitable planets, extending the work of Turnbull and Tarter (2003a,b). This paper will include an update of the published conclusions of the workshop (Tarter, et al., 2007).
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PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
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RELATED OBJECTIVES:
Objective 1.1
Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets
Objective 1.2
Indirect and direct astronomical observations of extrasolar habitable planets
Objective 4.3
Effects of extraterrestrial events upon the biosphere
Objective 6.2
Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth
Objective 7.2
Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems
