directed transmissions for SETI

[amnesiadust]

Yesterday I got a phone call from some guy who called me "Professor" and asked if I had read the paper he sent me. I didn't recall any such paper so told him I hadn't gotten it. He sounded surprised and then proceeded to discourse on his Theory, which I knew I didn't have time to listen to, and I told him so, send me another copy. Okay, sure,

Comments

An interesting idea which you sir must be *click*

[fdmts]

You are so much more kind and patient than I would be.

Re: An interesting idea which you sir must be *click*

[amnesiadust]

Well, at first I thought he was talking about some new Unified Theory of Quantum Consciousness or some such nonsense, so I didn't anticipate ever paying any heed to him and just tried to get rid of him with some suitable balance of politeness and expediency. I was bound to open the mail anyway just for laughs, though, and honestly didn't think it would be anything interesting (as opposed to merely hilarious) till I saw the contents had been refereed.

I'm still not writing him back, though...

[nemo_wistar]

Great. 1000 years from now we'll be known throughout the galaxy as "The Race that Photobombs Supernovae".

[amnesiadust]

I mean, it's not like the SNe themselves aren't interesting...

[jrtom]

at the risk of causing some confusion about the astrophysical nature of the SN source

How would one go about falsifying the theory that this has been done to us already? Is there a subfield of SETI that's devoted to checking this out? :)

churning out lots of supernovae in every direction

Makes it sound like something that a GG-style Clank would be responsible for. And you have to admit that the phrase "I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM _ALL_!! BWA-HA-HA!" could hardly be more appropriate. ;)

[amnesiadust]

How would one go about falsifying the theory that this has been done to us already? Is there a subfield of SETI that's devoted to checking this out? :)

Probably, pending funding. :P

you have to admit that the phrase "I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM _ALL_!! BWA-HA-HA!" could hardly be more appropriate.

TO CRUSH THEIR PHOTONS, SEE THEM DRIVEN BEFORE YOU,
AND THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE SKEPTICS

Supernovae

[fdmts]

Yeah, I saw a class E supernova - WHEN I WAS WITH YOUR MOM LAST NIGHT.

Somehow - it's missing something.

Re: Supernovae

[amnesiadust]

"our love was like a SU-PER-NOVAAAAA
IN THE NEbula of my SOOOooouuul
but now I find her HEEEAAARRRT
IS LIKE A BIIIIIG... BLAAAAACK... HOOOOOLE"
-- Neil deGrasse Tyson

[plummer]

Did he say *why* he wanted you to read his paper? (Aside from being lonely?) It would be great if I could get to the point where my Astrobiology class could understand that theory but its a general seminar class (unlikely they actually know what a SN is beyond an exploding star) and I'm just hoping by the end they don't think it is likely that ET has been visiting us.

[amnesiadust]

Why does anyone want you to read their paper? Presumably because he feels like it's the discovery of the century, but it's not getting the attention it deserves, people dismiss him as a crackpot, the peer-review process is a giant Communist conspiracy, etc.

I don't see why you couldn't introduce the idea to your class -- "exploding star" is all they need to know in this context, i.e., events that are bright (can be seen from another galaxy) and rare (so interesting enough to point a telescope at). As to why the ETs won't have found us yet, I would hope the cone diagram would suffice to make that point (as long as you emphasize that it is not to scale!). :)

[jrtom]

and on a related note:

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/06/25/1443252/Astronomers-Solve-the-Mystery-of-Hannys-Voorwerp?art_pos=6

:)

[amnesiadust]

Well, not entirely related as there are no ETs involved here. :)

Kevin Schawinski (whose Ph.D. thesis gave rise to GalaxyZoo) works right down the hall from me so I hear about the Voorwerp all the time. He usually flees the country during the summer, though, so it's been quiet around here. I did see a new Voorwerp paper with basically this content out on astro-ph, though.