Google Doodle highlights humanity's first attempt to phone ET

Humanity sent its first radio message to stars 44 years ago – and we are still waiting to hear it.

The Arecibo message, containing basic information on the human race and the Earth, was sent on November 16, 1974 by the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The message was sent to demonstrate the capabilities of the satellite dish of 1,000 feet in diameter of the recently upgraded telescope.

Transmitted at a frequency of 2380 MHz, the message consisted of 1,679 bits representing ones and zeros arranged in a grid of 73 rows of 23 columns. To mark the anniversary of the sending of the message, Google has designed a Doodle that mimics the composition of the message. (The Doodle is destined to appear in many parts of the world, including Puerto Rico, but not on the American continent, says Google.)

Written with the help of astronomer Carl Sagan, the pictogram obtained (right) contained representations of basic chemical substances of life, human DNA, a rough diagram of our solar system indicating the position of the Earth in this one, simple images of a figure resembling the man, as well as images of the Arecibo telescope itself.

The message was designed by a team of researchers led by Frank Drake, then a professor of astronomy at Cornell University. Drake, heavily involved in the quest for extraterrestrial intelligence, developed Drake's equation in 1961 in order to estimate the number of planets in the Milky Way galaxy capable of accommodating life. extraterrestrial.

"It was strictly a symbolic event, showing that we could do it," said Donald Campbell, professor of astronomy at Cornell University, in a statement in 1999. At the time the message was sent, Campbell was a partner in research at the Arecibo Observatory.

Some have described the transmission as dangerous, fearing that it may not attract the attention of hostile aliens. They probably did not need to worry because the message could be read by extraterrestrial intelligence.

The message was sent only once on a narrow beam directed at a group of 300,000 stars in the constellation Hercules, called M13. And do not hold your breath while waiting for an answer. Traveling at the speed of light, the message will take 25,000 years to reach its destination – and 25,000 more years for us.

In addition, the group of stars targeted by the message will have disappeared as part of the normal rotation of the galaxy at the moment the message arrives. But the message will continue its way through space, reaching distant galaxies in millions of years.

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Doodling our world: Check out Google's previous celebrations of people, events and vacations that affect our lives.