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ARECIBO, Puerto Rico – If the Earth had a Facebook page, its status would not have been updated in 45 years. Since then, a lot has happened – new jobs, millions of births, international breakdowns – and it's time to take stock.
Forty-four years ago on Friday, the Arecibo Observatory transmitted to the Universe a status for the Earth in the form of a radio message informing our galactic neighbors about the world. ;humanity.
In 1974, a team from Cornell University collaborated with famed astronomer Carl Sagan to find the perfect "hello" to the universe that best represented man. The result was a series of 1,679 binary digits representing elements of mathematics, human DNA and the location of the Earth in the solar system. Arecibo then transmitted the radio message to a group of stars in the constellation Hercules, 25,000 light years from Earth, about 150,000 km. In the last 44 years, it has traveled only 259 trillion kilometers.
After almost half a century of presence at the Puerto Rico observatory, it is time to update the intergalactic status.
Arecibo officials in Puerto Rico announced Friday, on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the message, that the observatory was planning to re-transmit a powerful radio message in deep space, but this time he was putting the content back to Earthlings, which actually has social media: the students.
"Our society and our technology have changed a lot since 1974," said Francisco Cordova, director of the Arecibo Observatory. "So, if we were assembling our message today, what would it say? What would it look like? What would it be necessary to learn to be able to conceive the good message actualized of the earthlings? These are the questions we are asking young people around the world through the new message of Arecibo – the global challenge.
On Friday, Arecibo unveiled the rules of the international competition – as well as a Google doodle marking his birthday – in order to create a new message.
The facility, funded by the National Science Foundation, managed by the University of Central Florida, is the largest earth observatory in the world. A diverse group of students from around the world are invited to participate, but it will not be easy.
Teams of 10 students from kindergarten to college will have to solve puzzle challenges to participate. The first task returns Friday afternoon on the Arecibo website.
Cordova says the organizers of the competition have some surprises for the participants.
Once the teams have decoded the clues, solved the puzzles and deepened their knowledge of space science, the first part of the challenge will be published on December 16th. The teams will be selected in March and will have nine months to finalize their projects.
On November 16, 2019, the 45th anniversary of the first radio transmission, Arecibo will announce the winning list.
"We look forward to seeing what our young people from all over the world will propose," Cordova said.
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