The Breakthrough Listen Investigation for Periodic Spectral Signals (BLIPSS), led by Akshay Suresh, Cornell doctoral candidate in astronomy, is pioneering a search for periodic signals emanating from the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The research aims to detect repetitive patterns, a way to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) within our cosmic neighborhood.
The researchers developed software based on a Fast Folding Algorithm (FFA), an efficient search method offering enhanced sensitivity to periodic sequences of narrow pulses. Their paper, "A 4-8 GHz Galactic Center Search for Periodic Technosignatures," was published May 30 in The Astronomical Journal.
Pulsars -- rapidly rotating neutron stars that sweep beams of radio energy across the Earth -- are natural astrophysical objects that generate periodic signals but humans also use directed periodic transmissions for a variety of applications, including radar. Such signals would be a good way to get someone's attention across interstellar space, standing out from the background of non-periodic signals, as well as using much less energy than a transmitter that is broadcasting continuously.
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