SETI: Astronomy as a Contact Sport: A Conversation with Jill Tarter

In northern California, 42 radio telescopes lay scattered across a meadow, dedicated to what many have called the most profound search in human history: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

But beyond the lofty dream of alien contact lies the sobering tally: after more than fifty years of looking, not one signal. Is it simply too early? Or is there nobody out there?

Jill Tarter, the passionate astronomer who has long guided SETI’s research program, is unbowed. The skeptics, she says, “just haven’t got much of a concept about how vast the cosmos is, how large is this cosmic haystack that we’re trying to search”.

Moreover, Jill maintains, the very act of searching has its own rewards. “If you get people appreciating this larger picture, then perhaps we can set the stage for cooperating on the challenges that don’t respect national boundaries.”

We caught up with Jill Tarter at the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California.