Dear SETI@home Volunteer: In recent years it’s become clear that planets are common around stars in our Galaxy and the number of possible abodes of life number in the billions. The number of civilizations that inhabit our Galaxy is still unknown, but thanks to SETI@home anyone can help search for those civilizations using their home computer or mobile phone. But SETI@home still needs your help. It’s been an exciting year for SETI@home. In addition to our ongoing search for extraterrestrial radio emissions at with the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, we’ve started analyzing data collected by the Breakthrough Listen project at the Green Bank Telescope, the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world. Breakthrough Listen will soon start collecting data at the Parkes radio telescope, the largest steerable radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, and SETI@home could analyze these data. To do so, SETI@home needs two things. First, we need you, and your friends and family. The current flood of data requires more processing power than SETI@home volunteers currently provide. Please spread the word about SETI@home. Second, SETI@home needs the funding to obtain the hardware and develop software required to handle this new data source. SETI@home has only obtained one third of the $450,000 in funding it needs for the coming year. If SETI@home doesn’t meet these funding goals, expansion to new telescopes may not be possible. I’m hoping that you will give generously. Together we can reach the stars. Happy Holidays! Eric Korpela

Director of SETI@home Follow us on: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube