dollars to purchase supercomputers with the capability of processing this vast amount of data in such a short time, but thanks to the volunteers, the processing was free (2).
The most compelling question, then, is whether all this data and this enormous amount of analysis can truly detect signs of extraterrestrial life. Jonathan Lunine, co-chair of the committee and professor of planetary science and physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson, thinks that it can. ôLunine feels the key to success in life detection in the field is to try a range of techniques that vary in their specificity and need for prior assumptions about the nature of life. Doing so will maximize the chances for success in searches at the planet itself.ö (Leonard 3). This, added to wisdom and discernment about what clues to pursue and lay claim to and what clues to sidestep, make the difference between success and failure (Shostak, 4).
An example of such techniques is the two types of sky searches that SETI engages in, wide-field searches and targeted searches (Freudenrich, 5). Wide-field searches examine large areas of sky at a time using a low-resolution type search. This type of search does not yield much specific data; it is just aimed at locating an area emitting signals that could indicate that it should be looked at more closely with a targeted search. Targeted sea
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