Sure, there may be nothing out there (or at least nothing we can detect), but it's easy and it's fun, and it'll work on your computer only while your computer is inactive (usually just as a screensaver). Plus, who knows? Perhaps your computer will perform a vital task leading up to the discovery of the century.

Various companies, schools, and clubs from all over the world have gotten groups of users together to work as teams and engage in friendly competition with each other. Now the Saugus, MA area has its own team. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join; the more the merrier. If enough of us work together, our local team might become quite strong.

To join Saugus' SETI team, you just have to do a couple of things:

1. Go to the SETI@home site and download a free copy of the SETI@home program for your computer.
2. Install and run the program.
3. If you're really impatient or don't want to give out your e-mail address online, you can sign up as a returning user using as an e-mail address and Saugus SETI as a name (if requested), and you're done. Otherwise sign on as a new user, enter your own choice of name or handle and your real e-mail address, and proceed to the next step.
4. Go to the Join Team Saugus page and sign up. You'll have to get your password initially; look for the "If you don't know your password" prompt.

The program will download some telescope data and start working. Once the download has completed, you can quit out of the program. It will reinvoke itself later when your computer is idle and pick up right where it left off. If you signed on with your own e-mail address, you'll be able to check out how well your machine is doing in addition to how well the whole group is doing on the Saugus SETI team page.

If you have any questions about Team Saugus, check out our FAQ. If you have any questions about the project in general or about the project software, be sure to take a peek at the SETI@home FAQ. If you want to print out a Saugus SETI poster, feel free to download and print the PDF version. Also, we've got an online reprint of the Daily Evening Item article covering the Saugus SETI team if you'd like to read it.