SETI@home Identifies 100 Priority Signals for Deep Space Investigation via FAST Telescope

The SETI@home project, widely regarded as the gold standard for distributed computing and citizen science, has officially concluded its extensive analysis of data gathered by the iconic Arecibo Observatory. This legendary facility, which met its unfortunate end in a structural collapse in December 2020, served as the primary data source for the initiative. Spanning more than two decades from 1999 to 2020, the project harnessed the collective processing power of over two million global volunteers, cementing its legacy as one of the most massive collaborative scientific endeavors in history.

After twenty years of meticulously sifting through 12 billion potential cosmic transmissions, the research team led by David Anderson and Eric Korpela at the University of California, Berkeley, has identified 100 particularly compelling radio signals. This monumental task involved a rigorous multi-stage filtering process. Initially, the 12 billion detections were winnowed down to approximately one million candidates using sophisticated algorithms, including discrete Fourier transforms designed to detect frequency shifts such as the Doppler effect. To distinguish these signals from terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI), the team utilized immense computational resources, including a supercomputer provided by the Max Planck Institute.

These 100 selected signals have now become the primary focus of follow-up observations conducted by the world's most powerful single-dish radio telescope, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) located in China. These targeted observations officially commenced in July 2025, with the specific goal of re-detecting these anomalies and determining if their characteristics differ from random cosmic noise. Because FAST possesses a significantly larger collecting area than the former Arecibo Observatory, it offers unparalleled sensitivity in the ongoing quest to identify signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Since its debut on the BOINC platform in May 1999, SETI@home has accumulated an astounding total of more than two million years of aggregate computing time. Project co-founder David Anderson noted that even without a definitive confirmation of alien contact yet, the project’s findings have established vital new sensitivity benchmarks for all future searches. Meanwhile, Eric Korpela, the project’s director and an accomplished astronomer, emphasized the scientific value of understanding what was excluded during the filtering process. He has expressed a strong interest in re-evaluating the entire dataset using refined methodologies, provided that the necessary funding is secured.

The strategic partnership between the SETI@home legacy and the FAST facility represents a pivotal transition from broad-spectrum data gathering to the precise verification of high-priority targets. FAST, which initiated its own dedicated SETI operations following its commissioning in January 2020, serves as a cornerstone for this next chapter in radio astronomy, with the capability to scan thousands of exoplanets for technological signatures. By finalizing the analysis of the Arecibo data, researchers have created a concrete and actionable foundation for the continued search for technosignatures using the most advanced astronomical instruments currently available.