Nordita Astrophysics Seminars

The VASCO project: the 2021 update

Name: The VASCO project: the 2021 update
Start: 2021-09-15T13:30:00+02:00
End: 2021-09-15T14:30:00+02:00
Location: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/530682073

by Dr Beatriz Villarroel (Nordita; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)

Wednesday 15 Sept 2021, 13:30 → 14:30 Europe/Stockholm

https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/530682073

Description

The Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) project uses optical survey data and a time window of 70 years to look for unusual and rare astrophysical transients, in particular vanishing objects. The VASCO project has a broad set of scientific goals, which includes everything from searches for interesting long-term variable Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), to signatures of extra-terrestrial intelligence. In this presentation, I will present the current status of the citizen science project that has reached 120 000 classifications and keeps collecting data. I will then present a recent finding showing nine transients appearing and vanishing within half an hour in a small region of space and discuss the possible astronomical and non-astronomical interpretations of this unusual finding. Finally, I will discuss new SETI indicators that shall be included into the latest version of the VASCO searches.