See what the scientist and engineers are doing in real time. We hope to bring you continuous live coverage at the next observations in February 2000. With hardly a ripple in the system, we've watched the celestial scenery pass by slowly, all the while scouring the river banks for tell-tale signs of intelligent life.
Surprises can lurk 'round the next bend, of course.
On Saturday night, we slammed into a small cascade. The next step was to start up some Arecibo software that allows the Phoenix computers to steer both the telescope and the various, local receiver systems. The Arecibo software came to life, but for some reason the Phoenix computers couldn't get in touch. A small communications problem, in other words. We've come all this way to search for a communication link that might be 100 light-years long or more, but got hung up on getting bits across the room.