Looking for the SETI ellipsoid with Gaia

The SETI ellipsoid is a geometric method for prioritizing technosignature observations based on the strategy of receiving signals synchronized with conspicuous astronomical events.

Precise distances to nearby stars from Gaia make it possible to limit the travel times of ellipsoids. Here we explore the usefulness of using the Gaia Catalog of Nearby Stars to select targets for the 1987A SETI SN ellipsoid, as well as ellipsoids defined by 278 new classics. Less than 8% of the stars within the 100 pcs sample are within the 1987 1987 SETI SN ellipsoid, meaning that the vast majority of nearby stars are still viable targets for tracking over time.

We find that an average of 734 stars per year within the volume of 100 computers will cross the SN 1987A ellipsoid, with ~ 10% of those having distance uncertainties with Gaia better than 0.1 lyr.

James RA Davenport, Barbara Cabrales, Sofia Sheikh, Steve Croft, Andrew PV Siemion, Daniel Giles, Ann Marie Cody

Comments: 11 pages, 7 figures, sent to AAS journals Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) Cited as: arXiv: 2206.04092 [astro-ph.IM] (o arXiv: 2206.04092v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version) Shipping HistoryFrom: James RA Davenport [v1] Wednesday, June 8, 2022 6:00 PM UTC (3,533 KB)

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