Breakthrough Listen - A new search for life in the universe

On July 20, 2015 Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner, and Lord Martin Rees announced a new scientific initiative - a SETI search called Breakthrough Listen. This is the first of several privately-funded Breakthrough Initiatives, designed to answer the fundamental science questions surrounding the origin, extent, and nature of life in the universe. With Breakthrough Listen, radio SETI observations have begun at the Green Bank Radio Telescope (GBT) and the CSIRO Parkes Telescope, and optical SETI is underway at the Lick Observatory Automated Planet Finder (APF). Other SETI instruments and observations are under consideration. Breakthrough Listen will also explore new technologies that permit all-sky monitoring at radio, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths. Breakthrough Listen is using the Lick Observatory APF telescope to search for possible laser signals among the nearest few hundred stars. BL is also investigating similar single-aperture systems operating at near-IR wavelengths.