Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Recent Developments

'This book, in its production well up to Reidel's high publishing standards, is absolutely essential reading for all those interested in the search for extraterrestrial life.' The Observatory (1986)

• Section I. History and special events.- Inroduction.- A Historical Introduction to the Search for Extraterrestrial Life.- Twenty-Five Years of the Search for Extraterrestrial Communications.- SETI is Coming of Age.- Welcoming Address.- Invocation.- Section II. The Search for Other Planetary Systems.- A Review of the Scientific Rationale and Methods Used in the Search for Other Planetary Systems.- Protoplanetary Material Around Nearby Stars.- On the Number of Galactic Planetary Systems.- Planetary Searches Using Optical Astrometric Interferometers.- A New Objective for the Allegheny Observatory 30-Inch Refractor.- Prospects for Space Telescope in the Search for Other Planetary Systems.- Detecting Distant Planets with Space Telescope.- Absolute Astronomical Accelerometry: A New Tool for Planetary Searching.- Assisting Extrasolar Planetary Detection through the Determination of Stellar Space Orientations.- Section III. Planetary, Interplanetary and Interstellar Organic Matter.- Titan’s Organic Chemistry.- Prebiotic Matter in Interstellar Molecules.- Recent Observations of Organic Molecules in Nearby Cold, Dark Interstellar Clouds.- Infrared Spectral Identification of Complex Organic Molecules in Interstellar Grains.- Universal Protein Ancestors from Hydrogen Cyanide and Water.- Panspermia — A Modern Astrophysical and Biological Approach.- No Valid Evidence Exists for Interstellar Proteins, Bacteria, Etc,.- Astronomical Sources of Circularly Polarized Light and their Role in Determining Molecular Chirality on Earth.- Section IV. Universal Aspects of Biological Evolution.- Synthesis and Analysis in Chemical Evolution.- Molecular Replication.- The Precambrian Evolution of Terrestrial Life.- Human Evolution: The View from Saturn.- Some Implications of Mass Extinction forthe Evolution of Complex Life.- Evidence for a Solar Companion Star.- The Universal Diagrams and Life in the Universe.- Universal Aspects of Biological Evolution.- On the Occurrence and Appearance of Galactic Life Forms: A Thermodynamic Approach.- Section V. Radio Searches — Recent Observations.- SETI Observations Worldwide.- Project Sentinel: Ultra-Narrowband SETI at Harvard/Smithsonian.- The Ohio SETI Program — The First Decade.- A Search in the Infrared to Microwave for Astroengineering Activity.- Search for Strongly Polarized Radio Emission from E.T.I., and an Optimist Approach to the Great Silence (Fermi’s Paradox).- Lunar Reflections of Terrestrial Radio Leakage.- Eavesdropping Detection of Radio Signals from other Planets with one Bit Implementation Techniques Using Existing Computers.- Section VI. Technological Progress in Radio Searches.- Seti: A More Eclectic Approach.- The 8-Million Channel Narrowband Analyzer.- The Multichannel Spectrum Analyzer.- Software Implementation of Detection Algorithms for the MCSA.- Seti: The Microwave Search Problem and the Targeted Search Approach.- Seti: The Microwave Search Problem and the NASA Sky Survey Approach.- An Analysis of the Elements of an All Sky Survey.- Optimum Search Strategy for Randomly Distributed CW Transmitters.- A Milky Way Search Strategy for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.- The Serendip II Design.- New 45m Radio Telescope and Fourier-Transform Type Spectrometer at Nobeyama Radio Observatory.- Section VII. The Fermi Paradox and Alternative Search Strategies.- A Comparative Analysis of Space Colonization Enterprises.- On The Question of Interstellar Travel.- Exponential Expansion: Galactic Destiny or Technological Hubris?.- Where Are They? Implications of Ancient and Future Migrations.- GalacticColonization and Competition in a Young Galactic Disk.- Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Where is Everybody?.- Fermi Question, Fermi Paradox: One Hit, One Out.- On a Cosmic Alphabet.- On the Inevitability and the Possible Structures of Supercivilizations.- An Infrared Search in our Solar System as Part of a More Flexible Search Strategy.- Section VIII. Summaries, Comments and Conclusions.- Summary of Session I. The Search for Planets Around other Stars.- Summary of Session II. Planetary, Interplanetary and Interstellar Organic Matter.- Summary of Session III. Universal Aspects of Biological Evolution.- Questionmarks Remaining.- Two Additional Comments.- A Look into the Future.- Concluding Remarks.- Activities and Resolutions of IAU Commission 51.- Epilogue.