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EJASA - Part 1
THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF
THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC
Volume 3, Number 6 - January 1992
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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* ASA Membership and Article Submission Information
* The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in
the Optical Spectrum, Part A - Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley
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ASA MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
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those of the ASA. This Journal is Copyright (c) 1992 by the
Astronomical Society of the Atlantic, Inc.
Editor's Note -
This January issue of EJASA is in six parts, and is devoted to the
work of Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley on the subject of SETI in the Optical
Spectrum. While the concept of Optical SETI is not new, it has yet to
receive the same attention as the surveys for signals from alien
intelligences in the microwave spectrum. It is the desire of
Dr. Kingsley, that this paper will elevate the status of the optical
approach to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Parts A, B and C deal with the general concepts of Optical SETI, in
particular Professional Optical SETI. Part D covers Amateur Optical
SETI. In that part, the basic design of an Amateur Optical SETI
Observatory is described, and details given of its approximate cost.
Part E contains the discussion and conclusions, and an extensive list
of references. Finally, Part F contains two Appendices, the first which
give the theory and specimen calculations to support the case made for
both Professional and Amateur Optical SETI, and the second which gives
the Post-Detection SETI Protocols.
This year will see considerable media attention given to Microwave
(Conventional) SETI. On Columbus Day, October 12, NASA's Microwave
Observing Project, which is otherwise known by the acronym MOP, will be
activated in the Northern Hemisphere at Puerto Rico's three hundred
meter diameter Arecibo telescope (Targeted Search) and NASA's thirty
four meter antenna at the Deep Space Network (DSN) in Goldstone,
California (All Sky Survey). Later, the seventy meter telescopes at
Parkes and Tidbinbilla in Australia, and the thirty meter telescope at
the Institute Argentino de Radioastronomia Villa Elisa in Argentina,
will join the program for complementary observations in the Southern
Hemisphere.
At this auspicious moment as we approach the five hundredth
anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas,
Dr. Kingsley brings to the public's attention the suggestion that we
may not actually be tuned to the correct frequencies, so that the
chances of discovering older, more mature extraterrestrial technical
civilizations will be substantially impaired.
CORRECTIONS -
While every care has been taken to ensure the theoretical correct-
ness of this paper, inevitable mistakes will be found, particularly
considering the size and complexity of this material. The author
wishes it to be known that he would like to hear about these errors.
The COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION page provides information as to how he may
be contacted.
The COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION (Page iii) contains the version number
for this issue of the EJASA. If later, corrected versions are
released, they will have a version number greater than 1.00.
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THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI)
IN THE OPTICAL SPECTRUM - PART A
Optical SETI Revisited and the Amateur Approach
by
Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley
FIBERDYNE OPTOELECTRONICS
545 Northview Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43209
United States
i
About the Author -
Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, born in 1948, is an alien of the
terrestrial kind (British), having lived most of his life in South
Tottenham, London, England, where his mother still resides. Stuart
is single and still harbors a long-held desire to move to Hawaii or
California. Presently he is an Optoelectronics Consultant, a Senior
Member of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE), and an Associate Member of the British Institution of
Electrical Engineers (IEE). Stuart Kingsley has a Bachelor of Science
(B.Sc.) Honors degree and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Electrical
and Electronic Engineering from The City University, London, and
University College London, respectively. In 1984 he shared the
prestigious British Rank Prize for Optoelectronics with his former
University College London thesis advisor, Professor D. E. N. Davies,
who is now Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, England.
Dr. Kingsley arrived in the United States in 1981 to join Battelle
Columbus Division and lead their activities in fiber-optic sensing,
initially as a Principal Research Scientist and later as a Senior
Research Scientist. In 1987 he left Battelle and established himself
as a photonics consultant. The magnet that drew him to this country
was the dynamic state of American technology during the Apollo Program,
which coincided with his formative teenage years. Indeed, for most of
his life, Stuart has been "mad about astronomy and space", and once, in
the late 1970s, volunteered to be a British Payload Specialist on the
American Space Shuttle. In the 1970s, Stuart was a member of his local
Haringey Astronomical Society (patron Arthur C. Clarke), which was
formed after a suggestion made by Patrick Moore to Arthur's brother,
Fred Clarke.
Soon after arriving in Columbus, Ohio, Stuart joined The Planetary
Society (TPS) and the Space Studies Institute (SSI). The only previous
time that he has ventured professionally into the space and astronomy
area was in the early 1980s, when he suggested the very speculative
possibility that huge fiber-optic sensors (Sagnac Interferometers)
with quantum amplifiers might be used to detect gravitational waves.
In this present paper, Stuart is suggesting how we might "sense" ETI,
with or without optical fibers - perhaps the ultimate optoelectronic
(photonic) sensing and communications project. Dr. Kingsley is
presently a volunteer with the SETI Group at the Radio Observatory,
Ohio State University and a member of the Columbus Astronomical Society
(CAS). Stuart's greatest concern today is that the nation has
forgotten how to "dream" for a better tomorrow.
As a point of information, the logo for Fiberdyne Optoelectronics
normally shows a Mach-Zehnder interferometer containing a photon and
a wave-packet, the latter illustrating the dual nature of light (for
this text-based document, they have been replaced by "hf >> kT").
Despite the STAR TREK style caption above the logo, which is more
applicable to Dr. Kingsley's usual consulting activities, the
suggestion made here is that extraterrestrial artificial optical
photons may have been coming in Earth's direction for a long time,
only that we humans have not been sophisticated enough to notice.
ii
FIBERDYNE OPTOELECTRONICS BBS
On Sunday, October 27, 1991, Fiberdyne Optoelectronics inaugurated
a Bulletin Board System (BBS) whose main purpose is to promote
activities for the Optical (Visible and Infrared) Search For Extra-
terrestrial Intelligence, otherwise known as Optical SETI*, and
Microwave (Conventional) SETI**. It is intended that this BBS will
advance the science of Optical SETI. In addition, the aim is to use
this bulletin board to coordinate future world-wide Amateur Optical
(Visible and Near-Infrared) SETI endeavors. This BBS is running
Wildcat 3.0 and supports color ANSI menus. It will be an open system,
and there is no charge at this time for becoming a registered user. If
the bulletin board should prove to be very popular, a small charge will
be instigated to fund the hardware acquisitions to support more modem
lines.
This announcement also serves as a request to those professionally
involved with SETI and with other forums listed below, to upload
relevant files, messages, and news to the appropriate conference areas
(forums). This can be done by becoming a registered user and directly
uploading files, sending text files via the national/international
computer network systems to the E-mail addresses below, or by mailing
us the material on any size of PC-compatible floppy disk. Prior to
registration, new users can only access Conference Areas 0 and 1. The
following is a list (subject to additions and change) of conference
areas on this BBS:
1. Fiberdyne Optoelectronics 2. Optical SETI*
3. SETI** 4. Astronomy
5. Space & Astronautics 6. Electromagnetics & Health
7. Lighting & VDT flicker 8. Electrical Engineering
9. Mathematics 10. Utilities
11. UFOs 12. TVRO & Intelsat Reception
13. Optoelectronics 14. Fiber-Optic Communications
15. Fiber-Optic Sensing 16. Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing
17. PC Software Demos 18. PC Hardware
19. Science Fiction 20. Games
21. Reserved 22. Political
23. United Kingdom News 24. Private
25. Private 26. Private
27. Private 28. Employment
29. Advertisements
------------------------------------------
| Bulletin Board System (BBS) |
| Modem: (614) 258-1710 |
| 300/1200/2400/4800/9600 Baud, MNP, 8N1 |
------------------------------------------
The voice/fax number is (614) 258-7402. Manual fax machines can
access our fax facility by sending the tone "33" anytime after the
first telephone ring. The answering machine gives instructions for fax
and modem usage.
iii
COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION
This document may be freely copied to other electronic bulletin
boards, but only in an unmodified form and in its entirety, with the
following copyright notice attached. No license is given to reproduce
this document in electronic or hardcopy form for profit. However, the
media may reproduce short extracts for the purposes of furthering the
Optical SETI debate.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley Copyright (c), 1992 *
* Consultant *
* AMIEE, SMIEEE, *
* The Planetary Society, *
* Space Studies Institute, *
* Columbus Astronomical Society, *
* Volunteer, SETI Group, Ohio State. *
* *
* "Where No Photon Has Gone Before & *
* The Impossible Takes A Little Longer" *
* __________ *
* FIBERDYNE OPTOELECTRONICS / \ *
* 545 Northview Drive --- hf >> kT --- *
* Columbus, Ohio 43209 \__________/ *
* United States *
* Tel/Fax: (614) 258-7402 .. .. .. .. .. *
* Manual Fax Tone Access Code: 33 . . . . . . . . . . *
* Bulletin Board System (BBS): .. .. .. .. *
* Modem: (614) 258-1710, *
* 300/1200/2400/4800/9600 Baud, MNP, 8N1. *
* Email: skingsle@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu *
* CompuServe: 72376,3545 *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
U.K. inquires may be made to the above U.S. address or:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* FIBERDYNE OPTOELECTRONICS *
* 43 Blenheim Avenue *
* Gants Hill, Ilford *
* Essex 1G2 6JQ *
* England *
* Tel: (081) 518-1953 *
* Fax: (081) 518-2216 *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Version: 1.00
File: EJASAV3.N06
iv
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface 1
Introduction 9
The Microwave Observing Project (MOP) 11
Assumption of Ineptitude 13
Professional Optical SETI 14
Project Cyclops 18
SETI Comparisons 18
Lasers 29
Fraunhofer Lines 31
The Optical Search 31
Professional CO2 SETI 35
Incoherent Optical SETI at 10,600 nm 37
Adaptive Telescope Technology 39
The Columbus Telescope Project 40
Optical SETI Rationale 40
Amateur Optical SETI 42
How to Build Your Own Amateur Optical SETI Observatory 47
The Microwave and Optical Observing Project (MOOP) 52
List of Previous and Present Optical SETI Activities 54
Discussion 56
Conclusions 58
References 64
Appendix A - Theory and Specimen Calculations 71
Appendix B - The SETI Protocols 94
Index 98
EJASA, Vol. 3, No. 6, January 1992
v
TABLES
PAGE
Table 1 Project Cyclops comparison scenarios. 19
Table 2 Summary of SETI performance for (symmetrical) 22
professional heterodyne communication systems
over a range of 10 light years.
Table 3 Important laser types and wavelengths. 29
Table 4 The most intense Fraunhofer lines from the Sun. 30
Table 5 Nearest stars favored for MOP's 800 star Targeted 53
Search.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1 Signpost SETI or pilot-tone system. 10
Figure 2 Coherent optical heterodyne receiver. 15
Figure 3 Spectral levels at a range of ten light years, 17
per diffraction limited pixel.
Figure 4 Spectral density and interstellar CNR for 28
1 kW (SETI) signals at ten light years.
Figure 5 The Microwave and Optical Cosmic Haystack 32
frequency domains.
Figure 6 Signal-to-noise ratio versus optical bandwidth 38
for (perfect) photon-counting CO2 receivers.
Figure 7 Incoherent (direct) detection optical receiver. 42
Figure 8 Signal-to-noise ratio versus optical bandwidth 44
(perfect) photon-counting 656 nm receivers.
Figure 9 Basic Amateur Optical SETI or Poor Man's 48
Optical SETI.
Figure 10 Typical FOVs for a large optical telescope. 81
Figure 11 Maximal Ratio Precombining. 84
vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper shows that the rationale behind modern-day SETI (The
Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) lore is suspect, and that our
search of electromagnetic signals from extraterrestrial technical
civilizations may be doomed to failure because we are "tuned to the
wrong frequencies". The old idea that optical transmissions would be
better for interstellar communications is revisited. That lasers might
be better for interstellar communications has generally been discounted
by the SETI community. Indeed, there is very little in the SETI
literature about the optical approach, as its efficacy was more or less
dismissed by SETI researchers some twenty years ago. This paper serves
to reopen the debate.
A powerful case is made that we have inherently assumed that ETIs
are technical inept, so that they lack the prowess to send very narrow
laser beams into nearby star systems. This paper provides convincing
theoretical proof that infrared or visible lasers would be preferred
for such communication links. Indeed, the author suggests that until
a thorough search for ETI signals is done in the optical spectrum, we
are unlikely to be able to say anything definitive about the
probability or lack of probability of intelligent life in other parts
of the Milky Way galaxy, particularly if the microwave search turns out
to be negative.
The author, Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, also indicates that amateur
optical astronomers should be able to construct their own Optical SETI
Observatories. Details are given of the equipment required and
approximate costs. He suggests that a coordinated Amateur Optical SETI
activity could make a useful contribution to SETI research by
conducting a low-sensitivity Targeted Search in the visible and near-
infrared spectrum, in parallel with the Microwave Observing Project's
Targeted Search of eight hundred selected stars. Stuart Kingsley
concludes his paper, by suggesting that while it is impossible to say
that ETIs would not use interstellar microwave techniques to
communicate with other technical civilizations, it is a mistake to
ignore the strong possibility that optical communications are
preferred.
An extensive theoretical appendix is included to support the
calculations for Professional and Amateur Optical SETI, and the
conclusions drawn from these calculations. For those interested in the
procedures to follow after detection of an ETI signal, a copy of the
Post-Detection SETI Protocols is also included.
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