Editing SETI@home (section)

{{short description|BOINC based volunteer computing project searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Original research|date=December 2023}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=December 2023}}
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox distributed computing project
| logo                   = SETI@home logo.png
| developer              = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| released               = {{start date |1999|05|17}}
| latest release version  = SETI@home v8：8.00
| latest release date     = {{start date and age|2015|12|30}}
SETI@home v8 for [[NVIDIA]] and [[AMD]]/[[ATi]] [[GPU]] Card：8.12/<br /> {{start date and age|2016|5|19}}<br />
AstroPulse v7：7.00/<br /> {{start date and age|2014|10|7}}<br />
AstroPulse v7 for nVidia and AMD/ATi GPU Card：7.10/<br /> {{start date and age|2015|4|23}}
| status                 = In hibernation
| goal                   = Discovery of radio evidence of [[extraterrestrial life]]
| funding                = [[Government spending#United States of America|Public funding]] and private donations
| programming language   = 
| operating system       = [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Linux]], [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[macOS]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php|title=Choosing BOINC projects|website=boinc.berkeley.edu|access-date=January 3, 2023|archive-date=January 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072445/https://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php|url-status=live}}</ref><br />[[IBM AIX]], [[FreeBSD]], [[DragonflyBSD]], [[OpenBSD]], [[NetBSD]], [[HP-UX]], [[IRIX]], [[Tru64 Unix]], [[OS/2 Warp]], [[eComStation]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DownloadOther|title=DownloadOther – BOINC|website=boinc.berkeley.edu|access-date=January 3, 2023|archive-date=January 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103033124/https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DownloadOther|url-status=live}}</ref>
| platform               = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre                  = [[Volunteer computing]]
| license                = [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_porting.php|title=Porting and optimizing SETI@home|website=setiathome.berkeley.edu|access-date=January 3, 2023|archive-date=January 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103033126/https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_porting.php|url-status=live}}</ref> <!-- or | licence = -->
| website                = {{URL| https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ }}
| active users           = {{decrease}} 91,454 (March 2020)<ref name=bionicstats>{{cite web|title=Detailed stats – SETI@Home|url=http://boincstats.com/en/stats/0/project/detail/overview|website=BOINC stats|access-date=March 5, 2020|archive-date=January 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104041228/http://boincstats.com/en/stats/0/project/detail/overview|url-status=live}}</ref>
| total users            = {{increase}} 1,803,163 (March 2020)<ref name=bionicstats/>
| active hosts           = 144,779 (March 2020)<ref name=bionicstats/>
| total hosts            = 165,178 (March 2020)<ref name=bionicstats/>
|screenshot=SETI@home_custom_background_and_logo_screensaver.gif|screenshot_size=250px|screenshot caption=Screensaver with custom background}}

''' SETI@home''' ("SETI at home") is a project of the [[Berkeley SETI Research Center]] to analyze radio signals with the aim of [[Search for extraterrestrial intelligence|searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence]]. Until March 2020, it was run as an Internet-based public [[volunteer computing]] project that employed the [[Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing|BOINC]] software platform. It is hosted by the [[Space Sciences Laboratory]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and is one of many activities undertaken as part of the worldwide [[SETI]] effort.

SETI@home software was released to the public on May 17, 1999,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast23may99_1.htm |publisher=[[NASA]] |title=ET, phone SETI@home! |author=Tony Phillips |date=May 23, 1999 |access-date=6 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001170505/http://science.nasa.gov//newhome/headlines/ast23may99_1.htm |archive-date=October 1, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite APOD |title=How to Search for Aliens |date=May 17, 1999 |access-date=6 October 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/classic.php |title=SETI@home Classic: In Memoriam |date=December 15, 2005 |access-date=6 October 2006 |archive-date=March 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308090420/http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/classic.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nettalklive.com/seti/ |title=Searches For ET! |work=Net Talk Live! |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000815053637/http://www.nettalklive.com/seti/ |archive-date=15 August 2000 }}</ref> making it the third large-scale use of [[volunteer computing]] over the Internet for research purposes, after [[Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search]] (GIMPS) was launched in 1996 and [[distributed.net]] in 1997. Along with [[MilkyWay@home]] and [[Einstein@home]], it is the third major computing project of this type that has the investigation of phenomena in interstellar space as its primary purpose.

In March 2020, the project stopped sending out new work to SETI@home users, bringing the crowdsourced computing aspect of the project to a stop.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/science/seti-at-home-aliens.html|title=The Search for E.T. Goes on Hold, for Now|date=2020-03-23|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-23|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407093808/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/science/seti-at-home-aliens.html|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time, the team intended to shift focus onto the analysis and interpretation of the 20 years' worth of accumulated data. However, the team left open the possibility of eventually resuming volunteer computing using data from other radio telescopes, such as [[MeerKAT]] and [[Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope|FAST]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|url=https://www.wired.com/story/setihome-is-over-but-the-search-for-alien-life-continues/|title=SETI@Home Is Over. But the Search for Alien Life Continues|access-date=February 27, 2021|first=Daniel|last=Oberhaus|date=2020-03-03|archive-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228203800/https://www.wired.com/story/setihome-is-over-but-the-search-for-alien-life-continues/|url-status=live}}</ref>

As of November 2021, the science team has analysed the data and removed noisy signals ([[Radio Frequency Interference]]) using the Nebula tool they developed and will choose the top-scoring 100 or so multiplets to be observed using the [[Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope]], to which they have been granted 24 hours of observation time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=New zones, a milestone, and next steps|url=https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=85810#2088641|access-date=2021-11-27|website=setiathome.berkeley.edu|archive-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127200350/https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=85810#2088641|url-status=live}}</ref>