Japanese search for aliens
Two Japanese observatories have started looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, one using a radio telescope, the other an optical telescope.
"I don't think it would be any wonder if life like us exists somewhere else as space is vast," says Mitsumi Fujishita, radioastronomy professor at Kyushu Tokai University, who heads the research.
There have been earlier Japanese efforts to detect signs of aliens but this is the first such search involving a state-run organisation, say the researchers.
The Nishi-Harima observatory, with a 2 metre reflector telescope, aims to detect light, while the Mizusawa observatory is using a radio telescope with a diameter of 10 metres to try to find radio waves.
They will focus on the area near the Hydra constellation where a US researcher detected radio waves in 1988.
Japan is drafting an ambitious space program, with a goal of a manned station on the moon by 2025.
Last weekend it successfully launched a satellite into space, 15 months after a similar unmanned launch failed disastrously.