SETI Songbook: We Look At Starshine

SETI Songs Aplenty

We Look At Starshine
lyrics © 2008 by Dr. H. Paul Shuch
sung to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine"
© 1940 by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell

CHORUS:

We look at starshine, at distant starshine
From a main sequence F, G, or K.
We search for planets by solar transit,
Or the radial velocity way.

We once believed that our Sun was special.
Orbiting planets we thought were rare.
Then we discovered an exoplanet.
Now we look for them everywhere.

CHORUS

When Dedier Queloz and Michel Mayor
Announced in Florence fifty-one Peg,
We knew at last that planets are common,
But a bigger question they beg.

CHORUS

We've now detected several hundred.
They bring us knowledge of major worth.
Still, we are trying to discover:
Are there any out there like Earth?

CHORUS

We think we've found one with liquid water,
Though it is yet to be clearly shown
That other worlds host life abundant,
So we still ask: Are We Alone?

CHORUS

email the
Webmaster