In fact.... this message was sent out from Earth on November 16th 1974 using the 305m Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. It was Humanity's first attempt to signal our presence to an alien civilisation. M13 was chosen for its preponderence of old stable stars, around which technically advanced races may have flourished.
M13 is 21,000 light years distant, so we will have to wait a long time for a reply - if indeed such races exist, and consider this simplistic binary string worthy of reply!

  • What inspired such action?
  • How realistic is the proposition of technical intelligence in the galaxy?
  • Is this communication strategy valid?
  • What does science have to say about the whole question of ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, and the search for it (SETI)?

These pages offer a short history of SETI and its implications, and reflect recent courses delivered on behalf of the Universities of Bristol and Bath by Dr Amanda Kear and Stephen Parkinson.

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