SETI Institute

This is your last chance to purchase tickets to attend #DrakeAwards2025 in person! Join us on May 20th in Mountain View, CA, for an unforgettable evening honoring those shaping astrobiology's future and the search for life beyond Earth. Hurry—seats are almost gone! Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate with the SETI Institute. Get your tickets today: https://lnkd.in/eRD_pX3x NOTE: Virtual tickets are also available for only $15!

https://lnkd.in/gbbXk3s7 How can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to advance mapping and imaging methods on other planets? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address, as a lone researcher investigated using machine learning models to enhance mapping and imaging capabilities from orbital images obtained from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX), which is currently orbiting Mars. This study has the potential to help scientists, engineers, and the public better understand the benefits of AI in conducting more advanced science, specifically regarding global images around Earth and other worlds. Here, Universe Today discusses this incredible research with Dr. Andrew Annex, who is a Senior Science Systems Engineer at the SETI Institute, regarding the motivation behind the study, the next steps in developing these machine learning models, and the importance of using machine learning models to improve upon existing methods.

IN-PERSON EVENT On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 7 pm (PDT), Dr. Oliver White (SETI Institute) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled: "Science at the Edge of the Solar System: Uncovering the Secrets of the Pluto System and Arrokoth" in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos (see directions below) The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, now in its 25th year. Ten years ago, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the Pluto system and revealed an unexpectedly diverse range of landscapes on the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon, implying complex geological histories for these distant worlds. Dr. White will lead a tour of their often bizarre terrains, some of which are still evolving, and will explain what processes scientists think molded them into their present appearances. After a brief stop at Pluto's four small moons, Dr. White will then extend the tour 2 billion km farther out into space to cover Arrokoth, the tiny planetesimal that New Horizons flew past three and a half years after visiting Pluto. It is the most primitive object in the Solar System yet visited by a spacecraft. Dr. Oliver White is a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute. His research focuses on unraveling the geological histories of the planets and moons in our Solar System and learning how their surfaces have evolved. A member of the New Horizons mission team, he is particularly interested in the icy outer Solar System worlds. He has produced a geological map of Pluto to be published by the US Geological Survey and is currently creating a similar map of Saturn's moon Tethys. Foothill College is just off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos. For directions and parking information, see: https://lnkd.in/gJdSHMmS For a campus map, to find the Smithwick Theater (Bldg. 1000), see: https://foothill.edu/map/ Note: Parking lot 1 is closest, with access to the theater by stairs. Parking lot 5 provides access from the same elevation as the theater. The lecture is co-sponsored by: The Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division The SETI Institute The Astronomical Society of the Pacific Past lectures in the series can also be found on YouTube at: https://lnkd.in/gJyWJs6w and as audio podcasts at: https://lnkd.in/g9RG4T4u

Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, runs from May 17, 2025, to January 4, 2026, and will feature a complete LaserSETI instrument on display. The exhibit explores one of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe? The exhibition brings together cutting-edge science, captivating artifacts, and the latest research in astrobiology, exoplanets, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. LaserSETI represents a new frontier in SETI, using a global network of instruments to continuously scan the night sky for brief laser pulses—potential signs of technology from beyond Earth. The first two sites were in California, at the Ferguson Observatory in Sonoma County, and on Haleakala in Maui, Hawaii. Last year, a third site went online in Sonora, Arizona; now, a new station is being installed in Puerto Rico. Join Simon Steel (Deputy Director, Carl Sagan Center) and planetary astronomer Franck Marchis (plus special guests) to talk about the London exhibition, the new observatories, and what this all means in the search for life beyond Earth. More info: https://lnkd.in/geKQR2Gq #seti #opticalseti #laserseti #nhm #london #pr #puertorico If you like science, support the SETI Institute! We're a non-profit research institution whose focus is understanding the nature and origins of life in the universe. Donate here: https://seti.org/donate Learn more about the SETI Institute and stay up-to-date on awesome science: - Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://lnkd.in/egsstkt8 - Watch our streams over on Twitch at https://lnkd.in/e6f8wXTZ - Listen to our podcast, Big Picture Science [https://lnkd.in/gRvEzqx8 - Subscribe to our newsletter https://seti.org/signup - Buy merchandise from Chop Shop https://lnkd.in/ewJqz24U

#PPOD: Out of this Whirl The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. This sharpest-ever image, taken in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, illustrates a spiral galaxy's grand design, from its curving spiral arms, where young stars reside, to its yellowish central core, a home of older stars. The galaxy is nicknamed the Whirlpool because of its swirling structure. The Whirlpool is one of astronomy's galactic darlings. Located approximately 25 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs), the Whirlpool's beautiful face-on view and closeness to Earth allow astronomers to study a classic spiral galaxy's structure and star-forming processes. Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Demo Day Speaker Spotlight: Seth Shostak, Senior #Astronomer at the SETI Institute, to our upcoming #SpaceEconomy Demo Day at #INNOVIT. Known for his decades-long commitment to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Seth has been a prominent voice in #Astronomy and #ScienceCommunication. He leads efforts in exploring the cosmos through radio telescope data and public science engagement and has contributed to expanding global understanding of our place in the universe. At our event, Seth will bring his perspective to a panel exploring the broader impact of #Space exploration, touching on science, technology, and the long-term vision of humanity’s future beyond Earth. 📅 Register for Demo Day: https://lnkd.in/e9dNbEE2 #SpaceAsAService #ItalianInnovation #SiliconValley #Networking #Innovation

🎟️ PUBLIC TICKETS (12£) ARE NOW AVAILABLE for our UK PREMIERE SXSW London! 🎟️ >>>>>>>> https://lnkd.in/eA-ka8ip Meet Nelly and crew and experience Doppelgängers³, a mind bending, playful sonic and wild trip through diasporic futures, space politics, and queer resistance 👯 📍 RICHMIX, LONDON 🔥 Monday, June 2nd | 6:30 PM – 8:08 PM ✨ Screening includes Q&A 🌙 Saturday, June 7th | 9:15 PM – 10:53 PM ✨ Screening including Q&A Rich Mix is an accessible venue, and the film has closed captions throughout 💘 Shot across Algeria, Armenia, USA & Spain 🌍With music by Pussy Riot, Colin Self, Mirrored Fatality & Asmodessa 🎶 BRING YOUR DOPPELGANGERS TO WIN A LIMITED EDITION GIFT 🎁 Programming Anna Bogutskaya SXSW London 🐈⬛🪐 Doppelgängers³ (73min/ SXSW 2024) is supported by Sundance Institute DOC SOCIETY Bristish Film Institute , The Karman Project , SETI Institute . Featuring: Aquanaut Sylvia Earle, extraterrestrial intelligence hunter Jill Tarter, futurist Michio Kaku, Senior Astronomer Franck Marchis, trans rights advocate Lilit Martirosyan, neurologist and gene master Kari Stefansson, astrobiologist and terraforming expert Chris McKay, and more. Music by @nadyariot, @pussyriot, @colinself, @luciaelhuron’s mum, @asmodessa_, @mirroredfatality, and other talents. 🌸 with @luciaelhuron @myriamamroun “Doppelgängers³ is a visual and sonic experience on diasporic and ecofeminist futures in space at a critical time when the UK Supreme Court rules against trans inclusion and when billionaires race to colonise space enforcing oppressive and reactionary narratives, Doppelgängers³ inform resistances and confronts ideas of extraction, colonization and profiteering that have wrought so much damage on Earth—it urges a reconsideration of our futures through a lens that centers inclusivity, queer, and transnational thinking” says Nelly 🌈 💘We only have limited free tix for cast&crew but if cost is a barrier DM-we will do our best to accommodate. #Doppelgängers3 #NellyBenHayounstepanian #BerlinaleTalents2025 #LondonFilmScreening #ExperimentalCinema #SXSWLondon #QueerFutures #CinemaAsExperience

Luigi Cruz, a staff engineer from the SETI Institute, described to a packed audience at GTC 2025 how his team used NVIDIA Holoscan and AI to accurately identify radio signals emitted by a far-off pulsar. Theoretically, this method can also identify communication from intelligent extraterrestrial life. “The universe is very large and mostly empty,” Cruz said. “We need superhuman means, which is what AI basically is, to search the data in creative ways.” Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eWzhHA3Y

Finding smaller asteroids is essential for understanding how our solar system formed and for planetary defense, explained Artem Burdanov and Julien de Wit in our latest #SETILive #podcast with host Franck Marchis. Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gAueAjCK

Check out the upcoming #SETILive schedule! We have interviews on a chemical cookbook for finding life on other worlds, an update on our LaserSETI program, and a possible explanation for why Titan is missing the river deltas we expected to see. Visit our YouTube channel and subscribe/ring the bell to get notifications before we go live, and see our events page for more: https://www.seti.org/talks