This is the Arecibo message, transmitted to M13 on November 16, 1974. 25,000 light years away.
The message communicates the following information, from top to bottom:
- The numbers one (1) through ten (10)
- The atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, which make up deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
- The formulas for the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA
- The number of nucleotides in DNA, and a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA
- A graphic figure of a human, the dimension (physical height) of an average man, and the human population of Earth
- A graphic of the Solar System
- A graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish
The sad reality, of course, is that by the time the message reaches its destination, Messier 13 won’t be anywhere near where it was located when the message was first transmitted. Hopefully they’ll have a forwarding system set up 23,026 years from now.
(I hope that extra-terrestrials do receive the message, but misinterpret it as some awesome 8-bit art.)
Can you spot Jumpman and the Gmail logo?
I totally just watched an X Files episode about this message. Awesome.
Why yes, I am going through the entirety of The X Files on Netflix. This is what I do in my spare time, which is way too abundant.
