Today's Google Doodle marks 44 years since the Arecibo message was beamed into outer space.
The Arecibo message was a signal sent in 1974 from the Arecibo Observatory's radio telescope. Designed as a celebration of the facility's remodeling it communicated a message about humanity to a distant cluster of stars.
Sent from Arecibo's megawatt transmitter and 305-meter antenna it was possible to concentrate a signal on a very small point in the sky. The power of the signal was the equivalent of a 20 trillion watt broadcast, according to SETI.
The message was tiny by modern standards. It contained only 210 bytes made up of 1,679 binary digits. Essentially zeros and ones being beamed into space using frequency modulation.
The transmission lasted less than three minutes in total.
At the power level used it should be possible for the signal to be detected anywhere in the galaxy - assuming equipment similar to the telescope at Arecibo.
What was in the Arecibo message?
Containing information about our solar system, humans, and information about the components of DNA, including a pictorial representation of the double helix and an average-sized man.
It also included the numbers one to ten, atomic numbers for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus - the building blocks of life and components of DNA.
There was also a representation of the solar system, along with an indication of where the signal was sent from.
The message also included an image of the Arecibo telescope itself with the dimensions included.
Who was the Arecibo message for?
Although it was aimed at a cluster of stars the message was symbolic rather than a serious attempt to reach an alien civilization.
It was directed towards globular star cluster M13 which contains hundreds of thousands of stars and perhaps countless planets. It's entirely possible that some of those planets have a life of some kind, although it could be entirely different to ours.
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