In the companion review paper on so-called Professional Optical SETI, it was suggested that ETIs are more likely to use lasers to contact emerging technical civilizations, and that such optical ETI signals will have very high EIRPs. This paper further proposes, that it is a sensible activity for amateur optical astronomers to construct their own Optical SETI observatories. Details are given of the equipment required and the approximate costs. The author describes the Optical SETI Observatory which is presently under construction in Columbus, Ohio. A coordinated Amateur Optical SETI (AMOSETI) activity could make a useful contribution to SETI research by conducting a low-sensitivity Targeted Search in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. This could be done in parallel with the present NASA Targeted Search that is part of the High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). Signal processing techniques and data-handling procedures developed for this AMOSETI research activity, would set the stage for NASA's eventual extension of HRMS into the optical regime.

Date Published: 6 August 1993
PDF: 31 pages
Proc. SPIE 1867, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum, (6 August 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.150122

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1867:
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum
Stuart A. Kingsley, Editor(s)