Looking for Extraterrestrial life:
The Arecebo message:
The numbers one to ten
The atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, which make up deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
The formulas for the chemical compounds that make up the nucleotides of DNA
The estimated number of DNA nucleotides in the human genome, and a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA
The dimension (physical height) of an average man, a graphic figure of a human being, and the human population of Earth
A graphic of the Solar System, indicating which of the planets the message is coming from
A graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish
Have there been any other attempts?
A second attempt at communication with aliens is the Voyager spacecrafts launched in 1977
The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them. The records are a sort of a time capsule.
Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals. To this they added audio content to represent humanity: spoken greetings in 55 ancient and modern languages and a greeting by Sagan’s six-year-old son, Nick; the inspirational message Per aspera ad astra in Morse code; and musical selections from different cultures and eras.
What are we doing to look for extraterrestrial life now?
SETI started with a NASA program but has since grown into it’s own institute. They run a lot of outreach and education. Their main goal is to detect intelligent life in the universe.
The Perseverance rover on mars is another one. Listen to the Perseverance rover episode here.
The Kepler telescope has completed its primary mission and has detected thousands of other worlds in our galaxy.
Along with JWST which would look at atmosphere of planets to study complex compounds – watch our podcast here.
Special thanks to Colin Vendromin for the music, also thanks to Zac Kenny for the logo!
