China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) has been operating in Guizhou province since September. As the world's most sensitive telescope, FAST's services are in high demand among scientists from a wide range of fields. The newest scientific "client" in line is none other than SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, based in Berkeley, California.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, SETI's Breakthrough Listen project, which is conducting a 10-year search for intelligent life in space, has partnered with FAST in order to progress toward that goal.
"Breakthrough Listen recently entered into a partnership with FAST and the National Astronomic Observatory of China," the co-director of Breakthrough Listen, Andrew Siemion, was quoted as saying.
FAST's international media bureau did not respond to a request from People's Daily Online to verify this partnership. However, as early as September, the New York Times detailed SETI's intention to "piggyback" on FAST scans being done for purposes other than to search for intelligent life.
"They're very keen to collaborate," Dan Werthimer, chief scientist of the SETI research center in Berkeley, was quoted as saying. "We can use the telescope at the same time that they're doing more traditional astronomy to search for E.T."
Currently, SETI's foremost goal is to observe a star unofficially known as Tabby's star, approximately 1,500 light years from Earth. According to South China Morning Post, the star first came to notice in September 2015 when American astronomer Tabetha Boyajian observed it dimming irregularly for periods of several consecutive days. Boyajian thought the dimming fit the pattern of a celestial body influenced by a Dyson sphere, a hypothetical structure that encompasses a star and harnesses the star's energy.
SETI believes that Tabby star's dimming could be caused by an intelligent civilization harnessing its energy. For that reason, the organization is eager to utilize FAST's power to examine the star closely – more closely than any other telescope is capable of doing.
According to Siemons, "We are very excited to work with our colleagues in China on conducting SETI observations with FAST, including of Tabby's star. Within its frequency range, FAST is the most sensitive telescope in the world capable of conducting SETI observations of Tabby's star, and will be able to detect the weakest signals."
However, Chinese scientists seem less confident in the viability of the collaboration. One researcher, who spoke with South China Morning Post on the condition of anonymity, guessed that there would be little opportunity to search for intelligent life in the next several years.
"The schedule is full," the researcher explained. "So full, in fact, I don't think we can do anything within two years."
