The Birthplace of SETI
On a recent vacation, my wife and I were driving through West Virginia and saw that Green Bank Observatory wasn’t far from our itinerary. We drove through the rolling countryside to the remote location. The Observatory is within the National Radio Quiet Zone, where there are no cell towers, forcing us to use paper maps for about two hours each way. It was worth the drive; we had a fascinating tour of the radio telescopes from a guide knowledgeable in the history of their use for the SETI program.
In 1960, astronomer Frank Drake initiated Project Ozma at Green Bank, marking the first modern SETI experiment. Using the 85-foot (26-meter) Tatel telescope, Drake aimed to detect interstellar radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrial sources. He focused on two nearby Sun-like stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani, scanning the 1.42 GHz frequency associated with neutral hydrogen—chosen because hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Although the project did not detect any extraterrestrial communications, it laid the groundwork for future SETI endeavors.
The following year, Green Bank became the gathering place for a historic meeting of scientists interested in the search for extraterrestrial life. This conference is where Frank Drake introduced the now-famous Drake Equation. The equation attempts to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. By considering factors such as the rate of star formation, the fraction of stars with planetary systems, and the likelihood of life developing intelligence and technology, the Drake Equation has become a cornerstone in astrobiology.
Over the decades, the observatory has played a crucial role in SETI research. Its location within the National Radio Quiet Zone offers an environment free from radio frequency interference, essential for detecting faint cosmic signals. The Green Bank Telescope (GBT), completed in 2000, is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope and has been instrumental in various SETI projects. Its advanced capabilities allow astronomers to conduct deep and comprehensive sky scans, increasing the chances of detecting potential signals from intelligent life.
Also on view as you enter the Observatory, the first radio telescope ever built. An amateur radio operator built it in his mother’s backyard and convinced the professional astronomy community to add the study of the radio sky to their traditional optical surveys.
Our Books
Knots
Chuck Boeheim
Monsieur Resche is an art thief. He has crossed a bridge into a quaint town that disappeared from Switzerland four centuries ago. All the magic that our world once had has ended up there. A precisely tied knot, an exactly folded paper, or a cunningly drawn figure can unlock wonders and horrors.
Resche has a mind that lets him excel at this new craft, but that brings him to the notice of powerful mages who play a great game of geomancy with tiles the size of countries. And when he looks for the bridge back to Geneva, it is nowhere to be found.
The Fractalist priest offers aid that may not be what it appears, the Jeweler has intricate schemes, the newspaper editor has taken an interest, the Astromancer had good advice before she was murdered, and Resche’s cat just makes wisecracks.
Knots is a compelling story filled with unexpected characters, plot twists, literal location twists, mystery, and redemption.
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Of Gods and Globes III Sale
Lancelot Schaubert
The authors of this anthology were challenged to write a story connecting our ancient mythology of the cosmos to a science fiction setting that incorporates elements of that mythology. These 23 stories explore everything from Venus out to Castor and Pollux and everything in between, including a few non-Western mythologies.
My own contribution, Charon, is a poignant tale of loss and reconciliation. It follows Simon Aeneas Kost on his solitary voyage to Pluto and its moon, Charon. He confronts his deepest fears as he encounters our first interstellar visitor while far from human company, wandering the desolate banks of the river Styx.
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What We‘re Reading
Visit our archive of reviews and recommendations on the Books We Like page of our website. You‘ll find over one hundred recommendations in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Non Fiction.
The Listeners
James Gunn
Our visit to Green Bank Observatory got me to visit my bookshelf and pull out my old copy of The Listeners from 1972. Inspired by the ideas of Drake and Sagan in the previous decade, Gunn wrote a tale of the long, long search for the first signal from another planet. It was prophetic that he set the novel in 2025 with the SETI program on the brink of cancellation from the lack of a signal. It’s taken far longer to find a signal than optimists of that day had forecast. But when a signal finally arrives, it unleashes turmoil on Earth as people debate how (or whether) to respond. This is better written than Sagan’s novel Contact, and just as scientifically accurate. There’s a copy on Kindle Unlimited, though it’s reportedly missing several illustrations from the printed version. You might want to pick up the printed version or find it at your library for the full experience. It’s worth a read or a re-read now … 2025 is just around the corner.
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The Engines of God
Jack McDevitt
Humans have found alien monuments on many planets. All different, all beautiful. And they just might hold the key to our survival.
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We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Dennis Taylor
The protagonist dies in chapter one. This is not a spoiler, since he is frozen and resurrected more than a century later as the intelligence controlling one of the first interstellar probes. His mandate is to explore the stars and make clones of himself to expand the search. He has to come to grips with his new existence, with Earth trying to control him, with hostile aliens, and eventually with an exodus from Earth.
This is unabashedly geeky, with tons of nerd culture references. It’s also a great tour of the current ideas for spacefaring explorers, terraforming, advanced weaponry and more. It’s a quick read, in a breezy style and short snippet chapters that jump viewpoint between all the various incarnations of Bob.
I had a lot of fun reading this book and the two sequels.
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The Dead Lands
Cheryl S. Mackey
The Dead Lands are no place for the living.
To continue the quest tasked by Tanari, Moira, Bel, and Airi must search for the last missing immortal, Dehil, and a brother Moira never knew, in a foreign realm to the north. They find that things aren’t what they thought, that lies and truths are as shrouded as the dark energy that has taken hold of a once-thriving world and turned it into a wasteland, The Dead Lands.
Something has stirred, something thought long dead, but the war that had almost destroyed their continent long ago was only the beginning of the ending. The Necromancer is back and she’s not happy. Faced with mysterious attacks, a volcanic hellscape, and a supernatural storm reminiscent of an ancient enemy of myth, they quickly realize that The Dead Lands are no place for the living.
The shaping of the past and the threads of the future are at war with the present. Guided by a mysterious book and Dehil, the last immortal who knows the truth, they must unite and fight to find the answers they need so they can become who they were destined to be…even if it’s unimaginable.
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The Survivors
Richard Rimington
In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.
Her plan to avert galactic catastrophe will unite a band of survivors who have faced every imaginable danger and disaster.
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Space Pirate Roberts
Jay Toney
Plundering innocent worlds; that is Doc Roberts job, and he is good at it. He was awarded a letter of Marque and a territory to hunt in exchange for his service to the Alliance and of course, a cut of his take.
The Alliance government can’t openly operate in Commonwealth territory without starting another war, so they use privateers like Captain Roberts to destabilize governments and cause unease among the people in hopes that they will ask for Alliance protection.
Cheating and treachery cause Captain Roberts to reevaluate his loyalty. He can live with a little pilfering, but not outright stealing from him by trespassing on his planet. There is only one thing he can do. Teach the Alliance government that there is a price to pay for taking what is not theirs.
The Alliance goes too far when they send an assassin to kill Doc’s wife. Now it is outright war, for Captain Roberts anyway. Now he is both a pirate and a rebel with people on both sides of the border whom either loves him or hates him.
After fighting a duel with one of the Alliance’s promising new captains, torturing him, and leaving him for dead; he has made powerful enemies in the Alliance hegemony. The Alliance military leaders want to make Captain Roberts suffer like he made their captain suffer.
One man can only do so much, and Doc is getting tired. It is time to pass the reins of command to his son. But first, he must crush his son’s dreams and teach him what it means to be an Alliance citizen.
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The Obstructed Engine
Jonathan Fesmire
A Madam, a Tinker, and a Resurrected Cat
This prequel short story to “The Adventures of Bodacious Creed” reveals how Anna Lynn Boyd, young brothel madam and secret inventor, resurrected her pet cat, met her partner Jonny, and how Jonny became mute. There’s science, adventure, heartbreak, and love in this tale that won an honorable mention in the Writers of the Future Contest.
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