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3 clusters · 18 sources · 6 days · First seen 6 days ago · Last updated about 23 hours ago

SETI high‑frequency ALMA search

Entities: Louisa Mason · Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) · Royal Astronomical Society · Chile · SETI Institute

Overview

In late July 2026 researchers expanded SETI beyond the traditional 1.4‑1.7 GHz “water‑hole”. A pre‑print by Dániel Apai, Chia‑Lung Lin and Kevin Wagner proposed that advanced civilizations might use long‑duration laser pulses as inexpensive “lighthouse” beacons, which would be most detectable at higher frequencies. Concurrently, Louisa Mason’s team repurposed archival ALMA Band 3 data (90‑93 GHz) for the first millimetre‑wave technosignature survey. Their analysis of two narrow frequency windows revealed only terrestrial interference and set new upper limits on powerful transmitters in the Milky Way. The work, presented at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting, demonstrated that high‑frequency bands can be searched effectively with existing archives. A follow‑up briefing at the same meeting emphasized that re‑examining older ALMA observations—beyond the water‑hole—may already contain undetected extraterrestrial signals, reinforcing the feasibility of deeper, high‑frequency SETI investigations.

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.

[● 10 SOURCES] Louisa Mason of the University of Manchester presented an analysis of ALMA archival data targeting millimetre and sub‑millimetre frequencies. (new)
[● 10 SOURCES] The ALMA analysis searched for technosignatures at high radio frequencies that have been largely unexplored by previous SETI projects. (new)
[● 10 SOURCES] No alien signals have been detected in the ALMA high‑frequency search so far. (new)
[● 10 SOURCES] The search examined two narrow frequency windows within ALMA Band 3 observations. (new)
[● 10 SOURCES] The results were presented at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham in 2026. (new)
[● 10 SOURCES] All detected signals were identified as human‑made interference; no technosignature candidates remained. (new)
[● 2 SOURCES] Researchers are reanalyzing archived telescope data to search for alien signals in previously unexplored radio frequencies. (SETI researchers)
[● 2 SOURCES] The new approach targets narrow‑band signals outside the traditional water‑hole frequency range (1.42–1.66 GHz). (SETI researchers)
[● 2 SOURCES] The analysis expands the search to frequencies that have been largely ignored by SETI programs previously. (SETI researchers)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The Green Bank Telescope conducted a ten‑year SETI search covering more than 70,000 star systems and over 105 million narrow‑band signal candidates. (Study summary)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The Green Bank Telescope search found no convincing extraterrestrial technosignature. (Study summary)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The study established stringent upper limits on how common powerful radio transmitters are in the Milky Way. (Study conclusion)

Timeline

about 23 hours ago

[TECHNOLOGY] 2 sources
SETI Researchers Reanalyse Archived Telescope Data for Alien Signals Outside Water Hole
SETI scientists reanalyse archived telescope data, targeting narrow‑band signals beyond the traditional water‑hole frequencies, a strategy presented at a UK astronomy meeting using ALMA observations.
4 days ago

[TECHNOLOGY] 10 sources
ALMA High‑Frequency SETI Search Finds No Alien Signals
A new ALMA‑based SETI search at high radio frequencies, led by Louisa Mason, found no alien technosignatures and set stricter limits on extraterrestrial transmitters.
6 days ago

[TECHNOLOGY] 7 sources
SETI shifts to high‑frequency ALMA data and long‑pulse beacons
SETI researchers propose cost‑effective long‑pulse beacons and, using ALMA archival data at 90‑93 GHz, search for narrow‑band technosignatures, expanding the hunt beyond the traditional water‑hole spectrum.

Sources

apach57.fr · arquivoufo.com.br · fehmarn24.de · focus.de · interestingengineering.com · knowridge.com · leianoticias.com.br · madata.gr · media.merkur.de · naukawpolsce.pap.pl · newstarget.com · olhardigital.com.br · ovnihoje.com · pplware.sapo.pt · sapo.pt · techgear.gr · wor.com · wwf.no

This summary has been updated 2 times: see revision history