Scanning space

An old personal computer inside the Perkins Observatory in Delaware County is hard at work searching for aliens.

Observatory Director Tom Burns can’t remember when the donated PC joined the worldwide network of 235,000 computers analyzing radio waves for a signal from deep space.

“Since the beginning, I think,” he said.

That would be impressive.The SETI@home (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) program just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

The network is “probably the third biggest supercomputer on the planet and we have it all to ourselves to search for E.T.,” said Dan Werthimer, SETI’s chief scientist.

But after a decade, no aliens. Nothing. Bupkis.

It’s not for lack of trying. Scientists, including those at Ohio State University, have been using radio telescopes to search for signals for 50 years.

Read complete article here.{via The Columbus Dispatch}