Astronomy & Telescopes

A Search for Brief Optical Flashes Associated with the SETI Target KIC 846285

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
astro-ph.SR
February 2, 2016
Filed under
A Search for Brief Optical Flashes Associated with the SETI Target KIC 846285

The F-type star KIC~8462852 has recently been identified as an exceptional target for SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) observations.

We describe an analysis methodology for optical SETI, which we have used to analyse nine hours of serendipitous archival observations of KIC~8462852 made with the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory between 2009 and 2015. No evidence of pulsed optical beacons, above a pulse intensity at the Earth of approximately 1 photon per m^2, is found. We also discuss the potential use of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays in searching for extremely short duration optical transients in general.

A. U. Abeysekara, S. Archambault, A. Archer, W. Benbow, R. Bird, M. Buchovecky, J. H. Buckley, K. Byrum, J. V Cardenzana, M. Cerruti, X. Chen, J. L. Christiansen, L. Ciupik, W. Cui, H. J. Dickinson, J. D. Eisch, M. Errando, A. Falcone, D. J. Fegan, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, H. Fleischhack, P. Fortin, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, G. H. Gillanders, S. Griffin, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, M. Huetten, N. Hakansson, D. Hanna, J. Holder, T. B. Humensky, C. A. Johnson, P. Kaaret, P. Kar, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, M. Krause, F. Krennrich, S. Kumar, M. J. Lang, T. T.Y. Lin, G. Maier, S. McArthur, A. McCann, K. Meagher, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, D. Nieto, S. O’Brien, A. O’Faolain de Bhroithe, R. A. Ong, A. N. Otte, N. Park, J. S. Perkins, A. Petrashyk, M. Pohl, A. Popkow, E. Pueschel, J. Quinn, et al. (18 additional authors not shown)
(Submitted on 2 Feb 2016)

Comments: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:1602.00987 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:1602.00987v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: Jamie Holder
[v1] Tue, 2 Feb 2016 15:58:42 GMT (1407kb,D)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.00987

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻