Editing SETI@home (section)

==Results==
To date, the project has not confirmed the detection of any [[Extraterrestrial intelligence|ETI]] signals. However, it has identified several candidate targets (sky positions), where the spike in intensity is not easily explained as noise spots,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/candidates.html |title=Signal Candidate |publisher=Classic SETI@home |access-date=23 June 2010 |archive-date=September 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901054148/http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/candidates.html |url-status=live }}</ref> for further analysis. The most significant candidate signal to date was announced on September 1, 2004, named [[Radio source SHGb02+14a]].

While the project has not reached the stated primary goal of finding extraterrestrial intelligence, it has proved to the scientific community that volunteer computing projects using Internet-connected computers can succeed as a viable analysis tool, and even beat the largest supercomputers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://boincstats.com/en/stats/-1/project/detail |publisher=BOINCstats |title=BOINC combined – Credit overview |access-date=23 June 2010 |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122022019/http://boincstats.com/en/stats/-1/project/detail/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=March 2020}} However, it has not been demonstrated that the order of magnitude excess in computers used, many outside the home (the original intent was to use 50,000–100,000 "home" computers),<ref name="Sullivan">{{cite web |url=http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/woody_paper.html |title=Sullivan, et al.: Seti@Home |publisher=Seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu |access-date=17 May 2009 |archive-date=December 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221172659/http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/woody_paper.html |url-status=live }}</ref> has benefited the project scientifically. (For more on this, see {{section link||Challenges}} below.)

[[Astronomer]] [[Seth Shostak]] stated in 2004 that he expects to get a conclusive signal and proof of alien contact between 2020 and 2025, based on the [[Drake equation]].<ref>{{cite news | work = Space Daily | title = First Contact Within 20 Years: Shostak | url = http://www.spacedaily.com/news/seti-04e.html | date = July 22, 2004 | last = Shostak | first = Seth | author-link = Seth Shostak | access-date = 12 June 2006 | archive-date = June 29, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060629082041/http://www.spacedaily.com/news/seti-04e.html | url-status = live }}</ref> This implies that a prolonged effort may benefit SETI@home, despite its (present) twenty-year run without success in ETI detection.