The Allen Telescope Array in the Cascade Mountain in northern California is shown, in this August 18, 2006 publicity photo released to Reuters April 28, 2011. Credit: REUTERS/Seth Shostak/SETI Institute Handout

Remember the saying “the hurrier I go the behinder I get” by Lewis Carroll?

That’s what the SETI folks must be thinking. Kepler data yielded many targets which would be obvious targets for their methods of detecting intelligent life, namely listening.

Not so fast.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The search for intelligent life in the universe, at least beyond planet Earth, has been dealt a major blow by government budget constraints.

The world’s only radio telescope array specially designed to eavesdrop on potential signals from distant worlds was shut down earlier this month after money ran out, said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer for the group that runs the northern California facility.

Read the rest of this story by Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis at Reuters.