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Australia joins int'l search for intelligent life in outer space

Xinhua, November 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia has joined the international search for intelligent life beyond Earth, with the nation's scientists focused on a recently discovered Earth-like planet.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced that New South Wales' (NSW) Parkes radio telescope was analyzing Proxima Centauri, a star 4.3 light years away, and the planets orbiting that star where life-giving water could exist in liquid form.

The project marks Australia's first involvement in Breakthrough Listen, a 10-year, 75 million U.S. dollar astronomical search for extra-terrestrial (ET) life beyond Earth, which was announced in 2015 by internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner and famous British physicist Stephen Hawking.

Milner said that the Parkes telescope, which will be the first outside the United States to participate in Breakthrough Listen, was a significant addition.

"These major instruments are the ears of the planet and now they are listening for signs of other civilizations," Milner said in comments published by Australian media on Wednesday.

Andrew Siemion, leader of the Breakthrough Listen science program, said the chances of finding life on any plant were very slim but the project was starting with planets closer to Earth.

"Once we knew there was a planet right next door, we had to ask the question, and it was a fitting first observation for Parkes," Siemion said.

"To find civilization just 4.3 light years away would change everything."

Parkes has joined two U.S. telescopes, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Automated Planet Finder at Lick Observatory in California, in ongoing surveys to determine whether civilizations exist elsewhere in outer space.

The CSIRO said the Parkes telescope was perfectly located to observe parts of the universe that can not be seen from the northern hemisphere, including the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

"Its unique view of the southern hemisphere sky and cutting-edge instrumentations means it now also has a great opportunity to contribute to the search for extra-terrestrial life," Douglas Bock, Director of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, said.

Breakthrough Listen will use 25 percent of the Parkes' observational capacity for the next five years. Endit