The latest on SETI

[AOTANI, Masayasu]

New Telescope to Search for Life Beyond Earth
Also: Leading scientific publications join together to examine poverty and development. Transcript of radio broadcast:
05 November 2007
 
VOICE ONE:

 

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.  I'm Bob Doughty.

 

VOICE TWO:

 

And I'm Faith Lapidus.  This week, we will tell about an effort to search for intelligent life beyond our universe.  We will tell about a method shown to increase attention and reduce tension.  We will also report on new concerns about the health of children in Africa.

 

(MUSIC)

 

VOICE ONE:

 

The search for life in the universe took a step forward last month with the opening of the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California.

 

The telescopes were partly made possible by a gift of twenty-five million dollars from Paul Allen.  He helped start the computer software company Microsoft.  He joined with the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley and the SETI Institute to provide money for the project.  The total cost of the project is already fifty million dollars.   

 

Currently, there are forty-two radio telescopes working at the Hat Creek observatory.  The signals they receive are combined to create what is equal to a single, very large telescope.

 

VOICE TWO:

 

Objects in space release radio waves that can be collected and studied.  Astronomers can make pictures of objects using radio wave information.  These pictures can show structures not observed in other wavelengths of light.

 

The telescope will be used to observe objects like exploding stars, black holes and other objects that are predicted but have not yet been observed.  Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute says this is the first telescope whose main purpose is to search for signals from intelligent life in space.

 

What makes the Allen Telescope Array unusual is that it can collect and study information from a wide area of the sky.  In addition, the forty-two telescopes can study information about several projects at the same time.  That means studies of large areas of the sky can be made faster than ever before.

 

VOICE ONE:

 

The Allen Telescope Array uses parts that are not specially made.  But they are easily available, including telecommunications technology.  This helps keep the cost down.  Each telescope is about six meters across. 

 

Some officials estimate the Allen Telescope Array will be completed in three more years.  Three hundred fifty individual radio telescopes are planned. 

 

The SETI institute is based in Mountain View, California.  The organization supports the search for other life forms in the universe.  The new abilities of the Allen Telescope Array will make searching for stars similar to the sun much faster. 

 

An earlier search by SETI, Project Phoenix, studied about eight hundred stars to a distance of two hundred forty light years.  The project ended in two thousand four.  With the Allen Telescope Array, astronomers hope to gather thousands of times more information in the search for life beyond our planet. 

 

 

 

 

**********************************
  青谷英語のすべて
 「英語勉強力： 成功する超効率学習」　
  （DHC出版のCDBook）
  http://aoitani.net/dhc.html
**********************************
 
 
 
青谷正妥（あおたにまさやす）♂
プロモーションビデオ（衛星放送録画：個人使用のみ）
http://aoitani.net/Go_on_AOTANI.wmv
 
-----------------------------------------------------------
『下に出ていますが、年20回発行で、一回400字という、非常に
slowなメルマガを始めました。』
 
幸運の青い谷、京大のゴールデンボーイ：　青谷正妥
　　http://aoitani.net/
　　（来ると不幸になるホームページ：但し、虫はいません。）
・英語のカリスマ青谷正妥：TOEFL,TOEIC満点達成
　　http://aoitani.net/TOEFL_iBT.html
・英語のコンビニ：目からウロコの英語情報（メールマガジンです。）
　　http://www.mag2.com/m/0000113907.htm
・留学と英語学習のメーリングリスト"EERR"
　　http://aoitani.net/ の登録ボックスより
・「人は不特定多数に名刺を配り続けると有名になれるのか？」
　　http://www.japantoday.com/jp/newsmaker/2
-----------------------------------------------------------