Low-Frequency Array
Videos
The Low-Frequency Array is a large radio telescope, with an antenna network located mainly in the Netherlands, and spreading across 7 other European countries as of 2019. Originally designed and built
The LOFAR core near Exloo, Netherlands. The two bridges on the left give a sense of scale.
Low-band antenna with electronics cabin in the background
The 60 m diameter LOFAR station consisting of 96 dipole antennas (foreground) at Bad Münstereifel- Effelsberg, next to the 100 m radio telescope (background), both run by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Bonn, Germany
The Irish LOFAR array (I-LOFAR) in Birr, County Offaly
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the diverse efforts and scientific projects intended to detect extraterrestrial signals, or any evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth.
Low-Frequency Array
…observatories). Such transient phenomena may be associated with exploding stars, black holes, flares on Sun-like stars, radio bursts from exoplanets or even SETI signals. In addition, this key science project will make a deep survey for radio pulsars at low radio frequencies, and will attempt to detect giant…
Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico with its 300 m (980 ft) dish was one of the world's largest filled-aperture (i.e., full dish) radio telescopes and conducted some SETI searches.
The Wow! Signal
Sensitivity vs range for SETI radio searches. The diagonal lines show transmitters of different effective powers. The x-axis is the sensitivity of the search. The y-axis on the right is the range in light-years, and on the left is the number of Sun-like stars within this range. The vertical line labeled SS is the typical sensitivity achieved by a full sky search, such as BETA above. The vertical line labeled TS is the typical sensitivity achieved by a targeted search such as Phoenix.
Microwave window as seen by a ground based system. From NASA report SP-419: SETI – the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence