A Search for Brief Optical Flashes Associated With the Seti Target Kic 8462852

Abeysekara, A. U.; Archambault, S.; Archer, A.; Benbow, W.; Bird, R.; Buchovecky, M.; Buckley, J. H.; Byrum, K.; Cardenzana, J. V; Cerruti, M.; Chen, X.; Christiansen, J. L.; Ciupik, L.; Cui, Wei; Dickinson, H. J.; Eisch, J.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A.; Fegan, D. J.; Feng, Q.; Finley, J. P.; Fleischhack, Henrike; Fortin, P.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Gillanders, G. H.; Griffin, S.; Grube, J.; Gyuk, G.; Hütten, Moritz; Håkansson, N.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Humensky, T. B.; Johnson, C. A.; Kaaret, Philip; Kar, P.; Kelley-Hoskins, N.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Krause, M.; Krennrich, F.; Kumar, S.; Lang, M. J.; Lin, T. T. Y.; Maier, G.; McArthur, S.; McCann, A.; Meagher, K.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Nieto, D.; O’Brien, S.; Bhróithe, A. O'Faoláin De; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Park, N.; Perkins, J. S.; Petrashyk, A.; Pohl, M.; Popkow, A.; Pueschel, E.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Ratliff, G.; Reynolds, P. T.; Richards, G. T.; Roache, E.; Santander, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Shahinyan, K.; Staszak, D.; Telezhinsky, I.; Tucci, J. V.; Tyler, J.; Vincent, Stéphane; Wakely, S. P.; Weiner, O. M.; Weinstein, A. J.R.; Williams, D. A.; Zitzer, B.

doi:10.3847/2041-8205/818/2/l33

Cited by 64 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These searches targeted both stars and galaxies, and more recently stars harboring known exoplanets (Siemion et al 2013). Searches for both continuously transmitting and short duration light pulses in the visible spectrum (optical SETI) have been conducted (Wright et al 2001;Reines and Marcy 2002;Howard et al 2004;Stone et al 2005;Howard et al 2007, Hanna et al 2009, Tellis & Marcy 2015, Abeysekara et al 2016. A unique search for near-infrared pulses has also begun (Wright et al 2014c, Maire et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This latter technique was put to the test recently with the strange photometry of KIC 8462852, commonly referred to as Boyajian's Star. This star has been since imaged in the visible, infrared, and radio domains, yielding prospective explanations for its unusual light curve that include breakup of comets near the star, unusual inhomogeneities and pulsations on the stellar surface, passing dust clouds, and consumption of an orbiting planet (Schuetz et al 2015, Marengo et al 2015, Abeysekara et al 2016, Bodman & Quillen 2016, Boyajian et al 2016, Wright et al 2016, Metzger et al 2017). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Search for Laser Emission with Megawatt Thresholds from 5600 FGKM Stars

Tellis¹,

Marcy²

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We searched high resolution spectra of 5600 nearby stars for emission lines that are both inconsistent with a natural origin and unresolved spatially, as would be expected from extraterrestrial optical lasers.The spectra were obtained with the Keck 10-meter telescope, including light coming from within 0.5 arcsec of the star, corresponding typically to within a few to tens of au of the star, and covering nearly the entire visible wavelength range from 3640 to 7890 Å. We establish detection thresholds by injecting synthetic laser emission lines into our spectra and blindly analyzing them for detections. We compute flux density detection thresholds for all wavelengths and spectral types sampled. Our detection thresholds for the power of the lasers themselves range from 3 kW to 13 MW, independent of distance to the star but dependent on the competing "glare" of the spectral energy distribution of the star and on the wavelength of the laser light, launched from a benchmark, diffraction-limited 10-meter class telescope. We found no such laser emission coming from the planetary region around any of the 5600 stars. As they contain roughly 2000 lukewarm, Earth-size planets, we rule out models of the Milky Way in which over 0.1% of warm, Earth-size planets harbor technological civilizations that, intentionally or not, are beaming optical lasers toward us. A next generation spectroscopic laser search will be done by the Breakthrough Listen initiative, targeting more stars, especially stellar types overlooked here including spectral types O, B, A, early F, late M, and brown dwarfs, and astrophysical exotica.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Search for Laser Emission with Megawatt Thresholds from 5600 FGKM Stars

Tellis¹,

Marcy²

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For comparison, the flux from a surface reflecting diffusely and uniformly into the sky (Lambertian reflection) with albedo ρ is: Artifacts would probably be spinning, visible for only a small fraction of the time as the cone of reflected sunlight repeatedly sweeps the Earth. The instantaneous flux may be a useful quantity for some setups with very fast photodetectors, like the Cherenkov telescopes that occasionally see satellite glints (Deil et al 2009;Abeysekara et al 2016). CCD based surveys, though, which make up the majority of large-sky surveys, have exposure times from seconds to minutes.…”

Section: Accurate Flash Duration For Mirrors At Oppositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It found one event, a triplet of flashes that can be explained as glints from a rotating satellite or fragment (Deil et al 2009). Recently, Abeysekara et al (2016) reported the serendipitous discovery of a train of optical pulses crossing the VER-ITAS field of view during optical SETI observations of KIC 8462852, also attributed to a satellite. Far more spectacular than any of these are the Iridium flares, with peak brightnesses exceeding magnitude −7, caused by the reflection of sunlight on the antennas of satellites in the old Iridium constellation (Maley & Pizzicaroli 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Shiny New Method for SETI: Specular Reflections from Interplanetary Artifacts

Lacki

2019

PASP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Glints of light from specular reflection of the Sun are a technosignature of artificial satellites. If extraterrestrial intelligences have left artifacts in the Solar System, these may include flat mirror-like surfaces that also can glint. I describe the characteristics of the resulting flashes. An interplanetary mirror will appear illuminated for several hours, but if it is rotating, its glint may appear as a train of optical pulses. The resulting glints can be very bright, but they will be seen only if the mirror happens to reflect sunlight to the Earth. The detection of large mirrors is limited mainly by the fraction oriented to reflect sunlight toward Earth. I give rough calculations for the expected reach of each exposure of Pan-STARRS1, LSST, and Evryscope for mirror glints. A single exposure of Pan-STARRS1 has an effective reach of 10 −9 -10 −7 AU 3 for interplanetary mirrors with effective areas of 10 m 2 , depending on rotation rate. Over several years, Pan-STARRS1 might accumulate a reach ∼ 10 5 times greater than this, as it tiles the sky and different mirrors enter and exit a favorable geometry.

show abstract

“…Prioritization criteria are currently limited to parameters for life as we know it ( e.g. , exoplanets in the habitable zone of their parent stars; unexplained signals from known exoplanetary systems, see Harp et al , 2015; Schuetz et al , 2015; Abeysekara et al , 2016). Those criteria will be refined over time as universal markers are being identified and as we learn more about possible exotic biochemistries ( e.g.…”

Section: An Integrated Vision Moving Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alien Mindscapes—A Perspective on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Cabrol

2016

Astrobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Advances in planetary and space sciences, astrobiology, and life and cognitive sciences, combined with developments in communication theory, bioneural computing, machine learning, and big data analysis, create new opportunities to explore the probabilistic nature of alien life. Brought together in a multidisciplinary approach, they have the potential to support an integrated and expanded Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI1), a search that includes looking for life as we do not know it. This approach will augment the odds of detecting a signal by broadening our understanding of the evolutionary and systemic components in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), provide more targets for radio and optical SETI, and identify new ways of decoding and coding messages using universal markers. Key Words: SETI—Astrobiology—Coevolution of Earth and life—Planetary habitability and biosignatures. Astrobiology 16, 661–676.

show abstract

A Search for Brief Optical Flashes Associated With the Seti Target Kic 8462852

Cited by 64 publications

References 35 publications

A Search for Laser Emission with Megawatt Thresholds from 5600 FGKM Stars

A Search for Laser Emission with Megawatt Thresholds from 5600 FGKM Stars

A Shiny New Method for SETI: Specular Reflections from Interplanetary Artifacts

Alien Mindscapes—A Perspective on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About