After about seven thousand years of history, humanity has finally reached a point where it seems plausible we could communicate with other intelligent civilizations in the Galaxy, if they are out there. In this talk, I'll describe how we have sought to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations in the past and how we plan to continue doing so in the future.
For example, I'll describe the various physical artifacts and messages humanity has already sent into the cosmos. Also, I will discuss the early and continuing work by Frank Drake and the SETI Institute, including the famous Drake Equation that helps frame the open question of just how many civilizations in the Galaxy could be out there. Finally, I will then explore the perplexing Fermi’s Paradox (“if intelligent life is out there, where is it?”) and the various solutions that have been advanced to answer it.
James continues the talk he gave us back in December where the question posed was “Is there life anywhere else in the Solar System?” You can see this talk by clicking on the link.
James Di Francesco was raised in southern Ontario. He obtained his Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1997 researching into the circumstellar environments of young stellar objects. This research consisted of far-infrared mapping of the natal envelopes of intermediate-mass objects, and millimetre interferometry of their accretion disks. He then spent ~3 years Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, working to understand the earliest stages of star formation within clusters. Next he was a BIMA Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He , joined the Millimetre Astronomy Group here in Victoria at the National Research Council’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research in 2002. James has been the Director of DAO since 2018.
Also on the program: Ask an Astronomer (or two) panel for this Star Party will be Reg Dunkley, Past President of the RASC Victoria Centre and meteorological guru as well as Scott Wilkinson, one of the hosts for the UVIC Open Houses, who is also part of David’s EAA narration team and a galaxy guru.