Can I listen to the SETI@home radio signal?
I have Downloaded the SETI program at my home on 2 different computers, it's great. I was wondering and looking, if there is any SETI like program that lets you not only see the radio waves but hear it also ?
Not that I know of. And in fact, such a thing couldn't exist, because you can't actually "hear" radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation (just like visible light, except with longer wavelengths). You can't hear them.
Despite the insistence of Hollywood, the media, and your everyday experience with your radio, there's nothing about radio waves that makes them equivalent to sound. What happens with your radio is that the radio station's transmitter is encoding information in the radio signal (modulating it in either frequency or amplitude) that gets decoded by your radio so that it knows what sounds to make. There's no reason to believe that the ET's would be doing the same thing. And, even if they were, we'd have no idea how to decode it to figure out what the sounds are supposed to be.
If you were to try turn the SETI signal into sound using the same method as a radio, it would just sound like noise--probably even if there was a real signal from aliens.
Still Curious?
Get More 'Curious?' with Our New PODCAST:
- Podcast? Subscribe? Tell me about the Ask an Astronomer Podcast
- Subscribe to our Podcast | Listen to our current Episode
- Cool! But I can't now. Send me a quick reminder now for later.
Related questions:
- Why does the SETI project search for radio signals?
- How do the astronauts communicate in space if sound cannot travel in a vacuum?
More questions about SETI and Extraterrestrial Life: Previous | Next
More questions about Telescopes: Previous | Next
How to ask a question:
If you have a follow-up question concerning the above subject, submit it here. If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on our site menu, or go here for help.
Main Page | About Us | For Teachers | Astronomy Links | Ask a Question | View a Random Question | Our Podcast
URL: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=528
This page has been accessed 20615 times since May 6, 2003.
Last modified: February 2, 2004 5:01:31 PM
Ask an Astronomer is hosted by the Astronomy Department at Cornell University and is produced with PHP and MySQL.
Warning: Your browser is misbehaving! This page might look ugly. (Details)