# Why does SETI only run at 1.42 GHZ

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-seti-only-run-at-1-42-ghz/111030>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 27, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-seti-only-run-at-1-42-ghz/111030 "2002-05-27T10:28:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cheswolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Cheswolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheswolf)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-seti-only-run-at-1-42-ghz/111030/1 "2002-05-27T10:28:50Z")

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SETI@home runs it’s program at 1.42 why is this the only frequency they run at, and has it not already been mapped?

I run SETI and think it is worth wild project but that was one of my main questions for it, I have read on the site why they say but I was under the impression that that had already been mapped.

Here is the site for you all 🙂 Thanks  
[SETI@home](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/)

😃

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**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-seti-only-run-at-1-42-ghz/111030/2 "2002-05-27T11:37:28Z")

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It’s the hydrogen band. It seems to be the most logical place to look - hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.