News

• May 13, 2025

  All Sky, All The Time – A New Radio Sky Monitor for Transients and Technosignatures

  Breakthrough Listen, headquartered at the University of Oxford – the most ambitious project to date searching for technosignatures (signs of technology as an indicator of extraterrestrial intelligence) – is partnering with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, and the University of Manchester, to deploy a new all-sky monitor at the Westerbork Observatory in the Netherlands.

• February 20, 2025

  Researchers Find Hidden Treasures in Archival MeerKAT Observations

  A group of researchers from the Rhodes Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT) in South Africa, in partnership with collaborators from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), Observatoire Paris Meudon, the University of Oxford, and the Breakthrough Listen initiative, have established a project to mine the MeerKAT telescope’s archive for previously overlooked transient radio sources.

• December 14, 2024

  Breakthrough Listen and Sardinia Radio Telescope

  Since 2015 Breakthrough Listen has leveraged the planet’s largest radio telescopes to search for technosignatures.

• December 14, 2024

  Breakthrough Listen and NVIDIA

  Since the launch of Breakthrough Listen in 2015, NVIDIA’s graphics processing units (GPUs) have been at the heart of the program’s computing systems.

• October 25, 2024

  New Partnership between Listen and Sardinia Radio Telescope Expands the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

  Breakthrough Listen has joined forces with Italy's Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) to search for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.

• October 18, 2023

  University of Oxford Partners with Breakthrough Prize Foundation in Search for Life Beyond Earth

  The University of Oxford and the Breakthrough Prize Foundation today announced a new scientific partnership aimed at finding evidence of signatures of technology beyond our planet.

• August 10, 2023

  National Academy of Sciences Receives $2.1 Million from Breakthrough Prize Foundation for Ongoing Support of Ukrainian-Led Scientific Research Projects

  The Breakthrough Prize Foundation is providing the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with up to $2.1 million in funding to support Ukrainian science and scientists, the NAS announced today.

• March 01, 2023

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation Partners With Leading Israeli Universities to Support Ukrainian Scientists

  As part of a $3 million fund pledged to support scientists who have been forced to flee from Ukraine, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced a donation of $500,000 million to a consortium of universities led by Tel Aviv University and including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion.

• February 09, 2023

  Breakthrough Watch to Fund Phase 2 of TOLIMAN Mission

  Space telescope will search for potentially habitable exoplanets in nearby star systems.

• February 08, 2023

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation to Support “Big Picture Science” Podcast

  3-year commitment to science and SETI podcast hosted by Seth Shostak.

• January 30, 2023

  Artificial Intelligence Joins Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

  Breakthrough Listen presents new signals of interest found by machine learning, in a student-led paper published in Nature Astronomy.

• December 01, 2022

  Extraterrestrial Signal Search is Underway Using the Southern Hemisphere’s Biggest Radio Telescope

  Breakthrough Listen has begun observations of a million nearby stars with the MeerKAT Array.

• November 22, 2022

  Supporting Ukrainian scientists through a partnership with the Breakthrough Prize Foundation

  Ukrainian scientists who have fled the war with Russia or who have been unable to work due to the destruction of their workplace are set to receive a helping hand from their Australian counterparts.

• October 24, 2022

  Scientific Organizations Form International Group to Advance Ukrainian Science and Support Researchers

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation Provides $3 Million.

• March 31, 2022

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation Partners With Allea To Support Scientists Forced To Leave Ukraine

  Foundation Dedicates $1.5 Million from a $3 Million Pledge for Impacted Scientists to ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, for Distribution Via European Academic Institutions.

• March 29, 2022

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation Partners With U.S. National Academy Of Sciences To Support Scientists Forced To Flee Ukraine

  Foundation Dedicates $1 Million from a $3 Million Fund Pledged for Impacted Scientists to NAS Initiative to Help Displaced Ukrainian Researchers Relocate and Continue Their Work.

• March 14, 2022

  Breakthrough Prize Foundation announces $3m donation in support of scientists forced to flee Ukraine

  Today we pledge a further $3 million in funding to support physicists, life scientists and mathematicians who have been forced to flee from Ukraine.

• March 03, 2022

  Statement Of Breakthrough Prize Foundation In Response To The Current War In Ukraine

  In the light of the devastating war and tragic humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation today pledges to make an emergency donation of $3 million to help the victims of the conflict.

• November 16, 2021

  The worlds next door: looking for habitable planets around Alpha Centauri

  Could life survive around the nearest stars? This project aims to find out.

• October 23, 2021

  Breakthrough Listen Releases Analysis of Previously Detected Signal

  Findings Published in Nature Astronomy; Publicly Available at seti.berkeley.edu/blc1.

• February 11, 2021

  Breakthrough Watch Enables Nearby Habitable-zone Exoplanets to be Directly Imaged

  Analysis of 100 hours of images of nearby stars Alpha Centauri A and B, from upgraded planet-finding instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile, reveals unprecedented sensitivity and weak signal in habitable zone of nearest star system.

• September 15, 2020

  Breakthrough Initiatives to Fund Study into Search for Primitive Life in the Clouds of Venus

  New evidence suggests presence of potential biosignature on closest planet to Earth.

• September 02, 2020

  Reanalysis of Breakthrough Listen Data to Include Other Stellar Objects in the Field Produces Most Comprehensive SETI Search to Date

  Independent team combines existing radio telescope data with new catalogs to search over 200 times more stars than before.

• June 22, 2020

  Breakthrough Listen releases list of “Exotica” – one of almost every kind of observable object or phenomenon in the Universe

  Hundreds of astronomical objects could be targets for the search for intelligent life and investigations of new astrophysics.

• February 16, 2020

  Breakthrough Listen’s Search for Intelligent Life (SETI) Releases Unprecedented Data Survey of Milky Way’s Galactic Center, Earth Transit Zone and Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

  Data Sharing from $100M SETI Initiative Doubles Publicly Accessible Data for Global Study and Analysis.

• October 23, 2019

  Breakthrough Listen to Collaborate with Scientists from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Team to Look for Signs of Advanced Extraterrestrial Life

  Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for “technosignatures” by Breakthrough Listen partner facilities across the globe. Data from TESS monitoring of stars will also be searched for anomalies.

• July 17, 2019

  Breakthrough Listen Launches New Optical Search with Arizona’s VERITAS Telescope Array

  Four 12-meter telescopes to search for nanosecond flashes of light from extraterrestrial civilizations.

• June 18, 2019

  Breakthrough Listen Publishes Most Comprehensive and Sensitive Search for Radio Technosignatures Ever Performed

  Largest Data Set in the History of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Released to The Public. Over one thousand stars scanned for signals using Green Bank and Parkes Telescopes; Data released to the astronomical community.

• June 10, 2019

  Breakthrough Watch and the European Southern Observatory achieve “first light” on upgraded planet-finding instrument to search for Earth-like planets in nearest star system

  Newly-built planet-finding instrument installed on Very Large Telescope, Chile, begins 100-hour observation of nearby stars Alpha Centauri A and B, aiming to be first to directly image a habitable exoplanet.

• October 02, 2018

  Breakthrough Listen, the World’s Biggest SETI Program, to Incorporate the Southern Hemisphere’s Biggest Radio Telescope – the MeerKAT Array – in its Existing Search for Extraterrestrial Signals & Technosignatures

  Expanding its global network to the African continent, Breakthrough Listen will employ the MeerKAT Telescope in a powerful new search of a million nearby stars.

• September 10, 2018

  Artificial Intelligence Helps Breakthrough Listen Find New Fast Radio Bursts

  Machine learning algorithms applied to Listen data from the Green Bank Telescope find new pulses from the mysterious repeating source FRB 121102. Machine learning algorithm also helping Listen search for new kinds of candidate signals from extraterrestrial intelligence.

• May 30, 2018

  Breakthrough Listen turns Parkes telescope toward retrograde asteroid 2015 BZ509

  In 2014, astronomers using the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii discovered an asteroid doing something strange: orbiting the Sun clockwise, unlike all the planets and most asteroids in the solar system, which orbit counter-clockwise. The object shares a similar orbit to Jupiter’s – similar, that is, except for its “retrograde” direction of motion.

• May 08, 2018

  Breakthrough Listen Begins Survey of the Plane of the Milky Way at Parkes

  Hardware upgrades at Parkes enable faster surveys of the sky. Disk and bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy to be scanned in unprecedented detail. Over 60 days’ total observing time to be dedicated to the search for technologically advanced life beyond Earth.

• April 10, 2018

  World-Renowned Scientists and Scholars Gather to Discuss Potential Life in our Solar System and Recent Space Discoveries

  Watch Third Annual ‘Breakthrough Discuss’ Conference Live on YouTube Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13.

• March 14, 2018

  Stephen Hawking (1942 – 2018), Breakthrough Prize Laureate, Co-Founder Breakthrough Starshot and Breakthrough Listen Science Programs

  All at the Breakthrough Prize Foundation were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Stephen Hawking, winner of the 2013 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, as well as cherished partner of the Breakthrough Initiatives.

• March 02, 2018

  Breakthrough Listen Detects New Fast Radio Burst

  Breakthrough Listen has detected a new Fast Radio Burst (FRB) - an extremely intense radio signal from a distant galaxy.

• December 14, 2017

  Breakthrough Listen Releases Initial Results and Data from Observations of ‘Oumuamua

  No evidence of artificial signals emanating from the object so far detected by the Green Bank Telescope, but monitoring and analysis continue. Initial data are available for public inspection in the Breakthrough Listen archive.

• December 11, 2017

  Breakthrough Listen to Observe Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua

  Green Bank Telescope turns its sights on cigar-shaped object moving rapidly through solar system.

• August 30, 2017

  Breakthrough Listen Detects Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from the Distant Universe

  Green Bank Telescope observations of a dwarf galaxy three billion light years away reveal 15 bursts of radio emission. This is the first time bursts from this source have been seen at these frequencies.

• July 26, 2017

  In Quest to Reach Alpha Centauri, Breakthrough Starshot Launches World’s Smallest Spacecraft

  First Prototype ‘Sprites’ – Precursors to Eventual ‘StarChip’ Probes – Achieve Low Earth Orbit.

• May 31, 2017

  Breakthrough Initiatives and Jodrell Bank Observatory Launch New Collaboration in Search for Intelligent Life beyond Earth

  Breakthrough Listen experiments in US and Australia to coordinate activities with historic UK telescopes Data sharing will allow rapid follow-up observations of possible signals.

• April 20, 2017

  Breakthrough Listen Initiative Publishes Initial Results

  Analysis results of petabytes of data from the first year of Green Bank Telescope observations made public, including the 11 events ranked highest for significance.

• April 18, 2017

  Breakthrough Initiatives to Host World-Renowned Scientists and Scholars in Summit on Life in the Universe and Space Exploration

  Second annual “Breakthrough Discuss” conference held April 20-21 and broadcast on Facebook Live.

• January 09, 2017

  VLT to Search for Planets in Alpha Centauri System

  ESO Signs Agreement with Breakthrough Initiatives.

• November 07, 2016

  First Light for Breakthrough Listen at Parkes Telescope, Australia

  Giant Radio Telescope Turns to New-Found Nearby Planet. Breakthrough Listen to Study Proxima b.

• October 12, 2016

  National Astronomical Observatories of China, Breakthrough Initiatives Launch Global Collaboration in Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

  Breakthrough Listen experiments in US and Australia to coordinate activities with new 500m FAST radio telescope in China Data sharing will allow rapid follow-up observations of possible signals.

• August 24, 2016

  Exoplanet Discovered in Habitable Zone of Alpha Centauri Star

  ESO’s Pale Red Dot team announce discovery of “Proxima b”, potentially Earth-sized planet in habitable zone of red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, 4.22 light years away in Alpha Centauri system.

• April 12, 2016

  Internet Investor and Science Philanthropist Yuri Milner & Physicist Stephen Hawking Announce Breakthrough Starshot Project to Develop 100 Million Mile per Hour Mission to the Stars within a Generation

  $100 million research and engineering program will seek proof of concept for using light beam to propel gram-scale ‘nanocraft’ to 20 percent of light speed. A possible fly-by mission could reach Alpha Centauri within about 20 years of its launch. Mark Zuckerberg is joining the board.

• April 12, 2016

  Breakthrough Listen Initiative Publicly Sharing Data from Unprecedented Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

  ‘First light’ for networked telescopes combing heavens; vast searches announced for coming months; open source data available for download on Breakthrough Initiatives website.

• October 13, 2015

  Geoff Marcy Resignation

  On October 12, 2015 Geoff Marcy resigned as Principal Investigator of the Breakthrough Listen project. His resignation has been accepted.

• July 20, 2015

  Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking Announce $100 Million Breakthrough Initiative to Dramatically Accelerate Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

  10-year, Multi-disciplinary Search Effort Will Harness World’s Largest Telescopes to Mine Data from Nearest Million Stars, Milky Way and 100 Galaxies.