A Message from Earth
Image Credit:
Frank Drake et al.,
Arecibo Observatory;
What are these Earthlings trying to tell us?
The featured message was broadcast from
Earth
towards the globular star cluster
M13 in 1974.
During the dedication of an upgrade to the
Arecibo
Observatory -
then the largest single radio telescope in the world -
a string of 1's and 0's representing the diagram was sent.
This attempt at
extraterrestrial communication
was mostly ceremonial - humanity regularly
broadcasts radio and television signals out into space accidentally.
Even were
this message
received, M13 is so far away we would
have to wait almost 50,000 years to hear an answer.
The featured message gives a few simple facts about humanity and its knowledge:
from left to right are numbers from one to ten, atoms including
hydrogen and
carbon,
some interesting molecules,
DNA, a human with description, basics of our
Solar System,
and basics of the sending telescope.
Several
searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are currently underway.