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What was Project Ozma and which stars did it examine?
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extraterrestrial life
An illustration of the Earth-size planet TOI 700e orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. The habitable zone is the area around a star where liquid water, and thus possibly life, can survive on a planet's surface. Its Earth-size sibling, TOI 700d, can be seen in the distance.
Project Ozma was a pioneering 1960 scientific attempt to detect radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations. Led by Frank D. Drake, the project utilized a 26-meter radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, to monitor specific frequencies associated with interstellar hydrogen.1
The project specifically targeted two nearby Sun-like stars believed to have the potential to host inhabited planets:
Both stars are located approximately 11 light-years from Earth. Despite 150 hours of observation, the project did not detect any recognizable signals. A subsequent, more extensive search known as Ozma II later monitored over 650 stars between 1973 and 1976.1