> Can I assume that the use of "star" is a general term to describe=20 > planets or do they intend to refer to stars. I read up on optical SETI last night. The idea seems to be that you add v= ery narrow pulses of laser light to the spectrum of the star. Another civilization would have optical telescopes, and would have discover= ed spectroscopy. That's not enough though. Looking at the spectrum by normal means, the signal is buried below the noi= se. You also have to do an FFT on the spectrum data, which then reveals th= is anomalous, very narrow line. As the papers said, there is no known process in nature which sends such na= rrow pulses (time and wavelength) at the appropriate power levels. Of course it may be something like pulsars, which got the designations "LGM= 1" etc at first.=20 Either way, "WTF is that?" is the sound of science happening. It promises to be interesting. --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .