AST 111 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Drake Equation, Project Ozma, Horsepower
6 Jun 2020
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Search for planets, look for habitability and finally look for evidence of life. Seti is short circuits all the intermediate steps and look for life directly by seeking evidence for intelligent extraterrestrials. Means searching for signals sent by intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations. Can include other things like searching for artifacts left behind in a previous visit or looking for modifications of their home environments (e. g. dyson spheres) Searched for signals from two nearby stars using a radio telescope at green. Famous for drake equation which aims to predict the number of civilizations in our galaxy. Equation for number of civilizations in our galaxy. Number of civilizations = nhp x flife x fciv x fnow. Flife = fraction of habitable planets that develop life. Fciv = fraction of planets with life on which a civilization develops at some time. Fnow = fraction of planets which develop civilizations where civilization is present now. Don"t know values of terms in equation.
