[ OK ] /methods :: how Artifact-SETI searches [ OK ] doctrine ........................................ ruled-out first [ OK ] data sources .................................... 7 catalogs / archives [ OK ] inquiry types ................................... 4 modes [ ON ] apparatus visible.
Methods
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[ RESEARCH BASIS ]
Bracewell's autonomous messenger probe, Papagiannis's proposal to examine the asteroid belt, and Benford's observational program for nearby co-orbital “lurkers” define the working hypothesis: durable extraterrestrial technology could be a local astronomical observable. They motivate where to look; they do not license an artificial interpretation of any anomaly. Full citations are listed in research notes.
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[ SEARCH DOCTRINE ]
Artifact-SETI treats extraterrestrial artifacts as a search hypothesis, not a default explanation. All candidates are first evaluated against catalog error, natural dynamics, sensor effects, selection effects, and processing artifacts. Only the residual that survives every cheaper hypothesis is allowed to enter the anomaly conversation — and even then it is published with explicit counter-hypotheses left in.
A candidate must be ruled out by each of the following before it is considered anomalous:
candidate ─▸ catalog ─▸ dynamics ─▸ sensor ─▸ selection ─▸ pipeline ─▸ residual Anything that exits the right side of the chain still must be argued in writing, with negative counter-evidence left in the record.
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[ DATA SOURCES ]
Artifact-SETI runs against public archives and catalogs. No proprietary feeds, no bespoke instrumentation. Every result is reproducible from the listed sources.
| Source | Family | What it gives us | Program use |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPL SBDB | small bodies | Orbital elements and physical parameters for asteroids, comets, NEOs. | candidate selection · orbit lookup |
| JPL Horizons | ephemerides | High-precision state vectors and ephemerides for any catalog body. | observation planning · model context |
| IRSA / NEOWISE | thermal IR | WISE / NEOWISE imaging and reactivation photometry. | albedo + size · thermal proxies |
| VizieR | aggregator | Cross-matched access to thousands of astronomy catalogs. | cross-survey residuals · prior literature |
| Gaia | astrometry | Sub-mas astrometry, parallax, photometry for ~1.8B sources. | astrometric backbone · stellar context |
| TESS / ATLAS | time domain | All-sky cadenced optical photometry; transient + variable detection. | occultation candidates · time series |
| MAST / HST | archive | Hubble + Kepler + JWST archive imaging and spectra. | targeted re-observation · negative-result imaging |
Most inquiries pull from at least three sources so cross-survey residuals can be computed and individual-survey artifacts can be filtered out.
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[ INQUIRY TYPES ]
The active program uses four complementary inquiry modes. Each has its own pipeline, its own grading rubric, and its own definition of a publishable result.
Combine independent physical and observational dimensions.
Robust scores across orbital, thermal, reflectance, size, and variability axes identify objects that remain unusual under several views of the same population.
EXAMPLESJupiter Trojan multi-axis survey
Test unusual orbital populations against selection and dynamics.
Distributional tests, uncertainty propagation, and dynamical context distinguish a population residual from rounding, catalog conventions, resonances, and survey bias.
EXAMPLESUltra-circular near-1 au population
Follow a moving target through independent public archives.
Ephemerides are joined to optical, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio coverage so candidate behavior can be checked across epochs, instruments, and wavelengths.
EXAMPLESKuiper Belt / TNO optical anomaly hunt
Require residuals to survive more than one catalog or pipeline.
Independent surveys, source-level diagnostics, and documented quality gates reduce the chance that one instrument or processing choice creates the apparent anomaly.
EXAMPLESMain-belt cross-survey anomaly search
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[ ON RESULTS ]
Each inquiry publishes a dated, argued report. The pipeline, the catalog versions, the random seeds, and the rule-out chain are recorded with the result. Negative results are kept and published as readily as positive ones.
No result is offered as evidence of artifact existence. A favorable conditional ranking is a search prior, not a discovery. Artifact-SETI's contribution is to make the priors auditable and to keep the apparatus visible.