SETI Institute

10/20/2026

☁️ Could a water-rich exoplanet have skies as hazy as Saturn's moon Titan?

Laboratory experiments suggest that even water-dominated atmospheres can produce substantial haze. But scientists are still investigating exactly how that happens.

Discover what ultraviolet radiation can reveal about alien atmospheres in this episode of SETI Live: Alien Skies Under Fire.

🎧 Listen to the podcast: https://sites.libsyn.com/462636/alien-skies-under-fire-what-uv-radiation-does-to-exoplanets

10/20/2026

: Massive Antenna, Silent Mirror

The star-filled sky above ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile reflects off the enormous dish of the Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). Photographed by José Rodrigues, the now-retired telescope stands beneath the southern night sky, its 15-meter antenna still reflecting the cosmos it once helped astronomers explore.

When SEST began operating in 1987, it was the only large submillimeter telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. Unlike optical telescopes that observe visible starlight, SEST detected longer-wavelength radiation, allowing astronomers to study cold clouds of gas and dust where new stars and planetary systems form. Although the telescope ceased operations in 2003, its scientific legacy lives on in modern facilities such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which continues investigating the cold universe in extraordinary detail.

Credit: J. Rodrigues/ESO

10/19/2026

Are we alone in the Universe, or have we simply not figured out how to listen?

SETI Institute scientist Dr. Vishal Gajjar believes the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is only getting started.

In a new interview with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, Gajjar discusses how scientists search for technosignatures, the role of the Allen Telescope Array, and how advances in computing and AI are helping researchers explore signals that might previously have gone unnoticed.

He also explains why decades of cosmic silence haven't dampened his optimism about life beyond Earth.

🔭 Read the interview: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/alien-life/searching-for-signs-of-alien-technology

How scientists are using algorithms to search for technosignatures – signs of advanced technology used by intelligent alien species.

10/19/2026

Big Picture Science Radio Show: Our Floral Planet

We admire the ornamental beauty of flowers in a garden, but those blooms are more than lush color. The seemingly fragile, delicate petals are part of a resilient, adaptive innovation that arrived 250 million years ago and transformed life on the planet. Many life forms, including us, would not have evolved without flowering plants. Yet the power of the petal is often overlooked.

How does our perspective on nature’s web change if we give flowers the credit they deserve? Celebrated biologist David Haskell shares how nature’s revolutionaries evolved vibrant hues and intoxicating scents to lure bees, butterflies, and other animals into cooperative partnerships.

Listen here: https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/our-floral-planet

10/19/2026

: Where Winds Blow and Lava Flows

Ancient lava flows and relentless winds have shaped this dramatic Martian landscape, captured by ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Rising up to 3 kilometers above the surrounding plains, the flat-topped Amazonis Mensa stands amid terrain marked by impact craters, volcanic deposits, and long, narrow ridges carved by erosion.

Some lava flows in this region date back roughly 3 billion years, when volcanic activity resurfaced parts of the landscape and partially buried older craters and valleys. More recently, persistent Martian winds have sculpted the softer surrounding material into streamlined ridges called yardangs. Their differing orientations reveal how wind patterns have shifted and interacted with the local terrain over time, preserving a layered history of volcanic activity, erosion, and environmental change on the Red Planet.

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

10/17/2026

📡 Are galaxy clusters producing more fast radio bursts?

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are powerful flashes of radio waves that last just milliseconds. Astronomers using data from the CHIME telescope have found evidence that these mysterious signals occur more frequently toward galaxy clusters.

Are the clusters home to more FRB sources, or could gravitational lensing be magnifying signals from galaxies far beyond them?

Join SETI Institute astronomer Dr. Lauren Sgro and lead author Dr. Mawson W. Sammons for the next as they investigate this cosmic mystery!

📅 Thursday, October 22
🕙 10:00 am Pacific

🔴 Watch live: https://youtube.com/live/xk66kZ3R77k

10/17/2026

🌕 Could the Moon be a billion-year archive of ancient alien technology?

Unlike Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere, oceans, or plate tectonics to continually erase its geological history. That makes lunar regolith a promising place to search for microscopic technosignatures that may have traveled across interstellar space.

On , SETI Institute Affiliate Scientist Lewis Pinault explains why the Moon could preserve evidence of technological civilizations from billions of years ago.

🔬 Watch the full conversation with host Simon Steel: https://youtube.com/live/dBAUleB7SJs

10/17/2026

Dr. Milan Gošić is a solar physicist who has been working on the spatio-temporal evolution of the solar magnetic fields using multi-instrument, multiwavelength observations. His field of expertise is space and ground solar observations, data processing, and data analysis.

Dr. Gošić also employs models to better understand and interpret solar observations and has supported the IRIS satellite's everyday science operations. He has been training solar physicists to conduct observations with IRIS and coordinating IRIS with space- and ground-based telescopes.

Not Just Aliens is the SETI Institute’s weekly series featuring scientists exploring astrobiology, heliophysics, planetary science, and more — expanding the search for life beyond Earth. And sometimes, we feature scientists looking for technosignatures!

10/17/2026

☄️ An unexpected meteor shower is putting on a show in the Southern Hemisphere!

SETI Institute scientist Peter Jenniskens and collaborators with the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) network report an ongoing outburst of the A-Carinid meteor shower, which is normally absent in most years.

The shower reached an estimated zenithal hourly rate of about 10 meteors per hour on October 16, with peak activity likely occurring on October 15.

Previous outbursts suggest a possible six-year cycle, potentially linked to meteoroids trapped in an orbital resonance with Jupiter.

Learn more: https://www.seti.org/news/a-carinid-meteor-outburst/

Electronic Telegram No. 5758Central Bureau for Astronomical TelegramsURL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.htmlPrepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

10/16/2026

🪐 Want to explore NASA data on outer planet systems, whether for research or just for fun?

Join SETI Institute scientists Matt Tiscareno, Megan Seritan, and the rest of the Ring-Moon Systems Node team at — in person or via Zoom — for the annual PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node Users Group (RMSNUG) meeting!

The PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node (RMS) provides data and tools focused on planetary systems in the outer solar system, including icy satellite surfaces, planetary atmospheres, rings, and other dynamical systems.

This annual meeting is a chance to hear RMS Node updates and accomplishments from the past year, share feedback, and help shape its future direction.

📅 Thursday, October 29 | 11:45 am–12:45 pm Pacific
📍 Spokane Convention Center, Room 206A — or join via Zoom

All registered DPS attendees are welcome to attend in person. Interested in joining remotely or being added to the mailing list? Contact the RMS Node team for details.

🔗 Learn more about the RMS Node: https://pds-rings.seti.org

🔗 Explore the Outer Planets Unified Search (OPUS): https://opus.pds-rings.seti.org

🔗 Learn more about NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS): https://pds.nasa.gov

🔗 Learn more about the DPS Meeting: https://aas.org/meetings/dps58

And don't forget to stop by the SETI Institute booth while you're at DPS!