Cosmic Company: The Search for Life in the UniverseIn Cosmic Company, Seth Shostak and Alex Barnett ponder the possibility of aliens visiting the Earth, as well as the consequences of receiving a signal from the cosmos proving we're neither alone, nor the most intelligent life forms. They explain why scientists think life might exist on other worlds, and how we might contact it. Shostak and Barnett, experienced writers of popular astronomy, provide an accessible overveiw of the science and technology behind the search for life in the universe. Seth Shostak is a Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute where he is involved in many of the outreach activities of the Institute, including editing the newsletter, overseeing the Web site, giving talks and writing magazine articles about SETI. He also teaches several informal education classes on astronomy and other topics in the Bay Area. Before coming to SETI, Seth did research work on galaxies using radio telescopes at observatories and universities in America and Europe. Alex Barnett is Programme Director at the National Space Centre. She is well-known in the science centre, planetarium and media worlds, particularly for public and educational programmes involving space and astronomy. She presents BBC's Final Frontier a space and astronomy programme. |
Contents
Introduction Could there be aliens? | 1 |
Habitats for life | 7 |
What might the aliens be like? | 37 |
Intelligent life | 59 |
Visitors from afar | 71 |
How might we get in touch | 87 |
The Drake Equation | 121 |
The future | 139 |
Further reading | 157 |
159 | |
160 | |
Common terms and phrases
ALEX BARNETT alien visitation Allen Telescope Array amateurs amino acids animals antennas Arecibo astronomers atmosphere backyard billion years ago biology brain broadcasts build civilization construction Cosmic Company cosmic static Cosmos creatures decades detect dishes distance Drake Equation Earth Earth-size energy enormous evidence Extraterrestrial Intelligence extraterrestrial signals eyes fact flash Frank Drake galactic Galaxy giant habitable zone happened Homo sapiens humans hundred idea interesting interstellar Jupiter Jupiter's Kepler Kepler Mission kilometers laser least light light-years liquid water look Mars Martian Milky million moons nearby star neighborhood ocean Optical SETI orbit possible probably probe Project Mogul Project Ozma Project Phoenix radar radio SETI experiments radio telescope reason rockets rocks rocky planets roughly satellite Search for Extraterrestrial SERENDIP SETH SHOSTAK SETI Institute SETI researchers SETI scientists SETI@home simple Solar System sophisticated space spacecraft suggests Sun-like stars surface there's thousand transmitters Universe worlds