Searching for Kardashev Type II and III Civilizations with WISE

A google hangout this afternoon:

"Today, September 18, 2:00 PM

SETI Institute researchers Jill Tarter and Franck Marchis (host & moderator) will hangout with Jason Wright, professor of astronomy at Penn State, Matt Povich, professor of astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona and Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician at the Institute for Advance Study.

These scientists will discuss the potential for the WISE telescope to detect extraterrestrial super-civilizations that acquired a large energy supply by building a mega-structure to harvest the energy of their star("Dyson Sphere") or their entire galaxy."

#SETIChat #SETIHangout

This is a discussion of the active research project currently under way, lead by Prof. Wright that I have previously alluded to

Jason has done a series of blog posts on the issue, some of which I have linked to before, and some more of which are below:

Big Spheres Around Small Stars - Dyson spheres around the lowest mass M stats are special

Artifact SETI

Waste Heat, part VI: A "physicist's definition" of intelligence

Waste Heat part VII: SETI beyond the Milky Way

There is a good writeup of the general issue "Distant ruins" in Aeon magazine.

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Well, that was interesting.
Caught about half of it. Was in class.
Will post youtube link when available