SETI Institute

On Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2026, at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Bruce Macintosh (Director of the University of California Observatories) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:

"Pictures of Distant Worlds"

in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos (see directions below)

The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, now in its 27th year.

More info: https://www.seti.org/events/pictures-of-distant-worlds/

#space #science #bayarea

#PPOD: Korea’s Kompsat-2 satellite captured this image over the sand seas of the Namib Desert on 7 January 2012. The blue-and-white area is the dry riverbed of the Tsauchab. Black dots of vegetation are concentrated close to the river’s main route, while salt deposits appear bright white. Running through the river valley, a road connects Sossusvlei to the Sesriem settlement. Credit: KARI/ESA

#space #science #planetaryscience

SETI AIR Newsletter - February 2026 This month’s projects orbit a shared question: how do signals become meaning? Laurent Grasso’s forthcoming film follows a vehicle tuned to whispers from the sky, while our Cosmic Consciousness artists explore whether molecules from distant atmospheres can be translated into poetry and sensation. As always, make sure to catch up on our SETI AIR news and events. Clear skies, Bettina Learn more: https://www.seti.org/news/seti-air-newsletter-february-2026/

The “feather detective” analyzed feathers to investigate plane crashes and solve murders. Now, DNA analysis is helping us unravel the mystery of where birds migrate and the threats they face. It's “Birds of a Feather” this week on Big Picture Science.

Listen here: https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/birds-of-a-feather

#PPOD: Astronomers have captured images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface. The images of the star R Doradus were obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in July and August 2023.

#space #science

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Among the Stars is a Valentine’s Day–inspired journey through some of the most beautiful and evocative objects in the night sky. Written by Lauren Sgro and Beth Johnson, this illustrated guide blends poetic reflections with accessible astronomy, pairing themes of love and connection with real scientific insight.

Get your copy: https://connect.seti.org/love-among-the-stars-ebook

#valentinesday #space #science

Early Tuesday morning, March 3, a total eclipse of the Moon will be visible from throughout North America. In a lunar eclipse, the Moon and the Sun are exactly opposite each other in our sky, and the Earth gets between them. This means the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon, darkening it.

Board of Trustees member Dr. Andrew Fraknoi has provided an information sheet to answer your most pressing questions!

Read more: https://www.seti.org/news/the-march-3-2026-total-eclipse-of-the-moon/

#space #science

EVENT: Kids Week at the Intrepid Museum
New York, NY

Join us for Kids Week, where children of all ages can explore STEAM through a range of thrilling activities!

The SETI Institute will be there February 14-16! Get a taste of how we really search for aliens in the Universe. Stop by for giveaways and activities, like designing your own alien and creating beautiful art as you learn about the fascinating interior of our star: The Sun.

Learn more: https://www.seti.org/events/kids-week-at-the-intrepid-museum/

#science #steam

#PPOD: This picture shows the full scope of Paranal’s beauty. Cerro Paranal in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the mountain peak home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), is a site of many marvels. And this panoramic image taken by Chilean astrophotographer Alexis Trigo certainly captures them all. Credit: A. Trigo/ESO

Learn more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2606a/

#planetaryscience #space #science

PRESS RELEASE:
A new study led by SETI Institute scientist Matija Ćuk suggests Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, formed from a collision between two older moons—and that this event may also be linked to the formation of Saturn’s iconic rings.

Read the full release: https://www.seti.org/news/saturns-moon-titan-could-have-formed-in-a-merger-of-two-old-moons/

#space #science

Hidden pulsars.
A supermassive black hole.
A new candidate signal.

What’s happening at the heart of the Milky Way?

SETI Live, today at 2:30 pm PST with William J. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow Karen Perez.

Join us and bring your questions!

WATCH LIVE: https://youtube.com/live/YMUeG5Mbngs

#space #science

#PPOD: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission brings us a striking view of northern Italy, highlighting several key Olympic venues for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Also known as the Milano Cortina Games, this year’s Olympics are geographically widespread, with events taking place simultaneously across northern Italy at venues including Milan, Bormio, Livigno, Anterselva, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Predazzo, Tesero, and Verona. Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2025), processed by ESA

#space

In a recent SETI Live conversation, science communicator Dr. Moiya McTier spoke with Dr. Berta Margalef-Bentabol, Dr. Lingyu Wang, and Antonio la Marca from the Space Research Organization Netherlands (SRON) to discuss two Euclid studies that address different aspects of a long-standing astrophysical hypothesis: that galaxy mergers play a central role in triggering the most powerful phases of black hole activity, known as active galactic nuclei.

Learn more: https://www.seti.org/news/when-galaxies-collide-euclid-reveals-what-triggers-active-black-holes/

#space

Our latest #SETILive #podcast examines the #ArtemisII mission! One of the places the team will observe during their lunar pass is Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole. NASA Goddard scientist Caitlin Ahrens discusses the possibilities for understanding the crater's ice. Listen to the full episode: https://feeds.libsyn.com/462636/rss

#space #science

#PPOD: This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, containing nearly 800,000 galaxies, is overlaid with a map of dark matter, represented in blue. Brighter blue areas indicate a higher density of dark matter. Researchers used JWST data to detect dark matter — which is invisible — through its gravitational influence on ordinary matter. Credit: NASA/STScI/A. Pagan

#space #science

Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon on February 3, 1966, sending the first images from the lunar surface to Earth. Despite the mission's success, its exact landing spot remained a mystery. Now, a new analysis may have solved it.

A study led by SETI Institute affiliate scientist Lewis Pinault, published in npj Space Exploration, describes how researchers used AI machine learning to identify a potential landing site for Luna 9.

Learn more: https://www.seti.org/news/ai-helps-pinpoint-the-moons-first-soft-landing/

#space

Can artificially cooling human bodies provide benefits? Some startup companies are promising life after death through cryogenic freezing. But it’s one thing to freeze a body, another to revive it. We go from Hot to Cold on this week’s Big Picture Science.

Listen here: https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/hot-to-cold

#science #podcast

#PPOD: This Feb. 4, 2026, image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captures a strong solar flare erupting. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that, along with other types of solar eruptions, can impact radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts. The flare pictured was classified as an X4.2 flare. X-class flares are the most intense. Credit: NASA/SDO

#space #science

#PPOD: This very impressive, and little-known, image of a meandering squiggle of high-altitude clouds on Saturn was captured by the Cassini spacecraft on July 18, 2010. It almost looks like one of these fancy latte art designs! Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Jason Major

#planetaryscience #space #science

This weekend, February 6-8, 2026, Death Valley is holding its annual Dark Sky Festival.

Friday night, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM, in the Furnace Creek Visitor Center Auditorium, SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond will give a talk entitled The Search for Life Beyond Earth - How It Works, Where It Stands, and Why It Matters.

Are we alone? Come and find out for yourself!

Tickets required; pick up at the Visitor Center.

Learn more: https://www.seti.org/events/death-valley-dark-sky-festival/

#science #deathvalley #seti

Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Season

UPDATE #12
1 February 2026: Drilling Diving Holes

Read the full update: https://www.seti.org/news/dale-andersen-s-antarctic-field-season-1-february-2026/

#science

In this week's #SETILive, Simon chatted with Caitlin Ahrens from NASA Goddard about the upcoming (and now delayed) #ArtemisII mission and the two experiments researching the effects of radiation on astronauts. Watch the full interview: https://youtube.com/live/fEKIYiK4AwA

#space #science

#PPOD: This is NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy located about 187 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. A “lenticular”, meaning “lens-shaped”, galaxy is a type that sits in between the more familiar spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies.

This new Hubble image, the sharpest yet taken of NGC 7722, brings the impressive dust lanes into sharp focus.

#space #science

#PPOD: A vast cavity on the Red Planet looks back at ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) with an icy stare. The crater is located in Utopia Planitia, the largest known impact basin in the Solar System, with a diameter of roughly 3,300 km, or twice the size of Earth’s Sahara Desert from north to south. Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS #planetaryscience #space #science

#PPOD: This new JWST picture features a cosmic creepy-crawly called NGC 6537 — the Red Spider Nebula. Using its Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), JWST has revealed never-before-seen details in this picturesque planetary nebula with a rich backdrop of thousands of stars. Planetary nebulae like the Red Spider Nebula form when ordinary stars like the Sun reach the end of their lives. Credit: ESA, NASA & CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology) #space #science