SETI Institute

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Our mission is to lead humanity’s quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe and share that knowledge.

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An interstellar comet came from another solar system — so how different is it from the comets we already know? In this clip, Dr. Cecilia Tubiana explains that 3I/ATLAS may be an interstellar visitor, but some of its properties look surprisingly familiar. 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

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Not Just Aliens is the SETI Institute’s weekly series featuring scientists exploring astrobiology, heliophysics, planetary science, and more — expanding the search for life beyond Earth.

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Stephanie Striegel is the SETI Institute’s Lead Operations Engineer for the Science Processing Operations Center at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work supports NASA’s TESS mission, helping enable the detection and study of planets beyond our solar system.

#NotJustAliens 🧪 🔭 👩‍🔬

Text: #notjustaliens. Stephanie Striegel, Astronomy. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Stephanie Striegel.Text: Stephanie Striegel is the SETI Institute’s Lead Operations Engineer for the Science Processing Operations Center at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work supports NASA’s TESS mission, helping enable the detection and study of planets beyond our solar system. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.Text: Stephanie earned her MS in Physics and Astronomy from San Jose State University in 2023. There, she explored how machine learning could identify phases of ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices, bringing together physics and data-driven techniques. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) Radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
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Could ancient alien technology be hiding in Moon dust? 🌕🔬

A new study proposes searching lunar regolith for microscopic technosignatures that could have crossed interstellar space.

Simon Steel talks with lead author Lewis Pinault on #SETILive.

📅 Oct. 15 | 2:30 pm PDT 🧪 🔭

SETI Live record button logo. Text: Alien tech in moon dust? with Simon Steel and Lewis Pinault, Thursday, 15 October 2026, 2:30 pm PDT / 5:30 pm EDT. Background: Black and white picture of a rock and regolith covered crater taken from the lunar surface during an Apollo mission. Inset: Photos of Simon Steel and Lewis Pinault.
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Today's SETI Live has been rescheduled for next week, Thursday, 15 October, at 2:30 pm PDT / 5:30 pm EDT. We're still talking about searching the Moon for microscopic technosignatures, so please stay tuned for a new announcement and fresh links!

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...more than once in a single galaxy cluster. The lens also acts as a natural magnifying glass: some tiny star-forming regions, only about five light-years across, are magnified more than 300 times, allowing JWST to probe structures that would otherwise be too distant and faint to study.

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...from even more distant galaxies behind it, creating the arcs and repeated images seen throughout the field. Astronomers found two separate systems in which gravitational lensing produces four or more images of the same background galaxy—the first time this rare configuration has been observed...

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#PPOD: Galaxies warp, stretch, and multiply across this view from NASA’s JWST. The golden galaxies belong to the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0454.1-0300, seen as it was about 8 billion years ago. The cluster’s enormous gravity bends spacetime and distorts light... 🧪 🔭

A massive galaxy cluster, made of many golden elliptical galaxies with the largest, brightest one in the centre. Heavily distorted orange galaxies appear all around the cluster, the largest concentrated in a large arc around the cluster's centre; these are images of very distant galaxies, created by gravitational lensing. A few galaxies are large and bluish-white in colour; bright, nearby stars are the same colour.
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Erosion is now carving the deposits into pits, jagged edges, and intricate patterns, while younger dark ripples of windblown sand and debris have accumulated between them—layering evidence of Mars’s more recent environment over its ancient climate record.

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...suggesting that the same kinds of material were deposited repeatedly over time. Scientists have proposed that the rhythmic layering seen across Arabia Terra may have formed through global climate cycles, including recurring dust storms, perhaps with groundwater also playing a role.

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#PPOD: These strange, intricately eroded deposits in Mars’s Arabia Terra region preserve a record of the planet’s ancient climate. Captured by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the light-toned layers have similar thicknesses and brightness... 🧪 🔭

Aerial view of Mars showing sinuous tan bedrock ridges and steep scarps with dark blue-gray sand dunes filling narrow valleys, forming a maze-like pattern of wind-eroded cliffs and dune fields.
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